cabinetry A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (solid ...

, the bargueño (or vargueño, both ; meaning "from Bargas") is a form of

portable desk The portable desk had many forms and is an ancestor of the portable computer, the modern laptop an atavistic grandchild of the 19th-century lap desk. Medieval era and Renaissance All desks were portable to some extent, from medieval times to the ...

, made up of two chests, the bottom one usually having drawers (called a ''taquillón'') and the top one having a hinged

desk A desk or bureau is a piece of furniture with a flat table (furniture), table-style work surface used in a school, office, home or the like for academic, professional or domestic activities such as reading (activity), reading, writing, or using ...

surface which also serves as a side-mounted lid. It is basically a chest or box with one of the side panels, rather than the top panel, serving as a fold-out writing surface. The interior of the desk is equipped with small drawers, pigeonholes, etc., for storing papers and supplies. The bargueño has also been used for sewing or as a jewel chest. The bargueño desk originated in

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The desk was typically made of wood, with sturdy iron handles located on each side, to make transporting it relatively easy. A bargueño could be set down on any solid table, but often had a ready-made support for it: either a ''taquillón'', a

chest of drawers A chest of drawers, also called (especially in North American English) a dresser or a bureau, or informally a Chester Draws, is a type of cabinet (a piece of furniture) that has multiple parallel, horizontal drawers generally stacked one above a ...

in the same material and style as the bargueño; or a ''pie de puente'', a small trestle table. As a general rule, the interior of a bargueño is much more richly decorated than the exterior. Thus a bargueño looking very plain from the exterior will have a reasonably rich and well sculpted interior, while a bargueño with impressive exterior decorations will have a truly ornate and extremely rich interior. Bargueño desks were first produced in the 15th century and were popular through the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. After a lull in the 19th century, they became again popular as antiques in the 20th century and continue to be produced today. The only other style of desk which is known to have been continuously produced for so long is the

trestle desk There are two kinds of trestle desk: as with trestle tables, some have trestles joined by one or more stretchers (and sometimes to the desktop), and some have free-standing trestles. They can be dismantled, with the desk top removed from the tr ...

, but some authorities exclude this desk from consideration because in early times it also served as a dining table and money lender's counter. Florence Pietre dure cabinet

The only other major antique combination of a large portable desk and a frame is the more delicate

desk on a frame The desk on a frame (or desk on frame) is usually an antique form made up of two pieces of furniture. The first piece is a fairly large and closable portable desk with a slanted hinged top giving access to the writing surface and utility nooks ...

of the 18th century, which was popular in

Colonial America The colonial history of the United States covers the period of European colonization of North America from the late 15th century until the unifying of the Thirteen British Colonies and creation of the United States in 1776, during the Re ...

. When the top and bottom chests are permanently attached or built as one piece there is a desk form called a

Fall front desk The fall-front desk is a desk with a main working surface that folds up to cover small shelves or drawers stacked in front of the user. As with its cousin the secretary desk, all working papers, documents and other items have to be stored before ...

. It is supposed that the fall front desk form gradually evolved from the desk on a chest towards the end of the Renaissance.

References

*Hayward, Helena, ed.. World Furniture: An Illustrated History. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1965. As ''Vargueno'': pp. 63, 64, 103, 160, ill. no. ''197-198, 202'' *Payne, Christopher, ed.. Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Furniture. London: Conran Octopus, 1989. As ''Vargueno'': pp. 29, 30, 36, 67 ill. on pp. ''29, 36''

Bibliography

* Aguiló Alonso, María Paz. Escritorios y bargueños españoles. Spanish bargueños and writing chests. Ministerio de Economía y Empresa. Madrid 2018. .

External links

Anresto-antiquairs.nl
photo {{DEFAULTSORT:Bargueno desk Desks Portable furniture

See also

References

Bibliography

External links