Small desk with folding top (bureau brisé). Culture: French, Paris. Designer: Designed and possibly engraved by Jean Berain (French, Saint-Mihiel 1640-1711 Paris) (1638/9-1711). Dimensions: 30 5/16 x 41 3/4 x 23 3/8 in. (77 x 106 x 59.4cm). Maker: Marquetry by Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt (Dutch, 1639-1715, active France). Date: ca. 1685.With a folding top that lifts up to reveal a narrow writing surface, this desk is known in French as a bureau brisé ( literally, "broken desk"). Introduced about 1669, this type of writing table remained fashionable until the early years of the eighteenth century, when it was replaced by the more practical, flat-topped bureau plat. The Museum's desk was commissioned with another almost identical example or Louis XIV's Petit Cabinet, a small private room in the north wing of the Château de Versailles, and is one of the few extant pieces of furniture made for the personal use of the Sun King.The exterior is embellished with marquetry of tortoiseshell and eng