AFTER BVRB, BERNARD VAN RIESEN BURGH, CHINESE LACQUER AND MARTIN VARNISH SIDE-BEARING SECRETARY, 18th CENTURY Moulded breccia marble top encircled by an ormolu moulding (note the notches in the fixing). The flap and the two front doors are covered in black, gold and brown Chinese lacquer, as are the sides, each decorated with two large panels of the same lacquer. The decoration on the stave, with its leafy branch motif, is in Martin varnish (European lacquer) in the Chinese style. The lacquer panel on the flap depicts figures in a four-wheeled rickshaw in the centre, as well as palace entrances and plants. The lacquer panels of the two lower doors depict inhabited islands and a bridge linking them. The sides show views of a park, entrances to houses and figures in procession. The panel frames are in European black varnish. Some of the period bronze fittings such as the astragal, reserve and frame fillets, and the front jambs decorated with varnished foliage have been replaced or lost. The flap reveals a Brazilian rosewood veneered interior and rosewood veneered drawers. (Damage, missing parts and restorations) AFTER BVRB, BERNARD VAN RIESEN BURGH, SECRETAIRE, 18TH CENTURY 129 x 108 x 46 CM - 50,8 x 42,5 x 18,1 IN. Provenance Lot 73 sold at Christie's, Masson and Woods, London on 2 July 1981, reproduced in the catalogue.