Viennese Secession desk; Austria, ca. 1900.

Viennese Secession desk; Austria, ca. 1900.
Mahogany, with bronze hardware.
Measurements: 134 x 80 x 38 cm.
Viennese Jugendstil desk made of mahogany wood, with bronze fittings and trimmings. It is composed of two bodies, table and desk, following a traditional typology that sinks its roots in the baroque, although the interior structure of the desk is totally different, with a conception adapted to the new use of the furniture. While the baroque bargueño was designed mainly for storing documents, here we find a modern desk, which includes an interior writing surface, inkwells and recesses for storing papers. Likewise, the display of drawers is replaced by a structure of shelves, more intended to house books and writing utensils. This change in function also implies some structural variations, the most important of which is the replacement of the hinged front cover with two doors, in this case with a mirrored inner face. Similarly, the table is now considerably deeper than the desk, whose volume is considerably reduced compared to the baroque bargueño. Thus, the interior writing desk can be completely unfolded, resting on the projections of the tabletop.
Formally, it is a work perfectly framed within the aesthetics of the Viennese Secession, with rounded volumes, with sharp edges, complemented by openwork ironwork with a highly synthesized vegetal design, with clean, geometric profiles. However, these decorative fittings are reminiscent, on the two doors of the desk, of the old long hinges of the baroque bargueño.