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18th Century Rolltop Detail
23 July 2014
This rolltop desk -- or, as the French would have it, bureau a cylindre -- was made in Spain by José Canops around 1785. We snuck up to it at the Legion of Honor last week with a 50mm lens at f4, ISO set to 800 and our slowest handheld shutter speed of 1/30 second.
Rolltop Desk. Pine, mahogany and amaranth carcase veneered with bloodwood, pear, amaranth, sycamore, maple and box, barberry, tulipwood, kingwod and ebony.
The lighting is subdued but the veneer is such a symphony of woods we pointed our 75mm equivalent focal length close in and held our breath. We hoped the little knob -- suggesting it's time to open the desk and get to work despite the distraction of that symphony -- would be inspiring. Works for us, so we're passing the inspiration along to you, too.
You can see the piece in its full glory on its Explore the Art page. Click on the image there for an enlargement.