A rolltop desk is a 19th-century reworking of the

pedestal desk A pedestal desk or a ''tanker desk'' is usually a large, flat, free-standing desk made of a simple rectangular working surface resting on two pedestals or small cabinets of stacked drawers of one or two sizes, with plinths around the bases. Of ...

with, in addition, a series of stacked compartments, shelves, drawers and nooks in front of the user, much like the

bureau à gradin A bureau à gradin is an antique desk form resembling a writing table with, in addition, one or several tiers of small drawers and pigeonholes built on part of the desktop surface. Usually the drawers and pigeonholes directly face the user, but t ...

or the Carlton House desk. In contrast to these, the compartments and the desktop surface of a rolltop desk can be covered by means of a ''tambour'' consisting of linked wooden slats that roll or slide through slots in the raised sides of the desk. In that, it is a descendant in function, and partly in form, of the

cylinder desk The cylinder desk is a desk that resembles a Bureau Mazarin or a writing table equipped with small stacked shelves in front of the user's main work surface, and a revolving cylinder part that comes down to hide and lock up the working papers whe ...

of the 18th century. It is a relative of the

tambour desk A tambour desk is a desk with desktop-based drawers and pigeonholes, in a way resembling bureau à gradin. The small drawers and nooks are covered, when required, by reeded or slatted shutters, ''tambours'', which usually retract in the two sid ...

, whose slats retract horizontally rather than vertically.

Jean-François Oeben Jean-François Oeben, or Johann Franz Oeben (9 October 1721 – 21 January 1763) was a German ébéniste (cabinetmaker) whose career was spent in Paris. He was the maternal grandfather of the painter Eugène Delacroix. Life and career Nothing is ...

is sometimes credited with designing the original rolltop desk around 1760, however his

Bureau du Roi The (, 'the King's desk'), also known as Louis XV's roll-top desk (), is the richly ornamented royal cylinder desk which was constructed at the end of Louis XV's reign, and is now again in the Palace of Versailles. History The was probably sta ...

(completed by

Jean Henri Riesener Jean-Henri Riesener (; 4 July 1734 – 6 January 1806) was a famous German ''ébéniste'' (cabinetmaker), working in Paris, whose work exemplified the early neoclassical "Louis XVI style". Life and career Riesener was born in Gladbeck, Westpha ...

after Oeben's death) was a cylinder desk. The US Patent Office issued a patent for the first American-made rolltop desk to Abner Cutler of Buffalo, NY in 1882.

Production

Unlike the cylinder desk, the rolltop desk could be mass-produced rather easily since the simple wooden slats could be turned out very fast in a uniform way. In contrast, the wooden section of a cylinder had to be treated with great pains to keep its form perfectly over time, lest it warp or bend, and make it impossible to retract or extend. The wooden slats of the rolltop's tambour were usually joined together by being all attached to a cloth or leather foundation, and were thus less influenced by the problems which plagued the cylinder desk.

Usage

The rolltop desk was the mainstay of the small or medium-sized

office An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a po ...

at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. Because it was produced in vast numbers and at varying levels of quality, the rolltop desk is popular in the antique market. It is usually expensive especially if the wood used is expensive. It is also popular amongst

set decorator The set decorator is the head of the set decoration department in the film and television industry, responsible for selecting, designing, fabricating, and sourcing the " set dressing" elements of each set in a Feature Film, Television, or New Med ...

s who want to recreate the ambience of an office of the late 19th or early 20th century.

Gallery

File:Rolltop desk.JPG, Typical rolltop desk File:Side-view sketch of rolltop desk.png File:Rolltop desk sketch.jpg

References

{{reflist *Baumert, Kenneth. "Building a rolltop desk: Interlocking slats form an all-wood tambour." ''Fine Woodworking''. Volume 79. December 1989. pp. 48–53. *Gloag, John. ''A Complete Dictionary of Furniture.'' Woodstock, N.Y. : Overlook Press, 1991. Desks History of furniture

Production

Usage

Gallery

See also

References