Small Louis XVI Lady's Secretary Stamped Evald

A small lady's writing desk with canted corners, adorned with rich marquetry of flowers and ribbons, depicting gardening motifs, on a sycamore ground, within rosewood frames and amaranth stringing. It opens with a drawer, a drop-front, and two doors. The drawer is inlaid with a balustrade on a green-stained wood background. Discreet ornamentation of chased and gilded bronze mounts. The top is a white Carrara marble, stamped Evald (Master in 1765). Louis XVI period. The decoration of this highly original piece, deeply inspired by botany, suggests that the artist was influenced, perhaps even directed, by the taste for nature that Queen Marie Antoinette imposed at the Petit Trianon in Versailles. Maurice Bernard Evald was admitted as a Master in October 1765 and worked for only nine short years, but for a very wealthy clientele, including King Louis XV, Queen Marie Antoinette, the Duke of Orléans, and the Duke of Aumont.