1840s Directoire Walnut Secretaire, an elegant Italian Directoire bureau with flap, with finely detailed marquetry work made of veneers of walnut rosewood and maple. Dating back to 1840, made in Albenga, near Savona in Liguria Region.

The original black Serpentine marble-top over a drawer above a green leather mounted fall-front opening to shelving above ten small maple drawers with handles made with lion masks in gilded metal, flanked by 13 secret compartments, side and below. The interior ebonized balcony with balustrades conceals a drawer.
The front flanked by two rounded edges, finely threaded with vertical geometrical lines in boxwood, while an inlaid band patterned plate made of maple and rosewood cuts horizontally the bureau. Four drawers below (3 of them with locks and one key).
5 drawers on the front, 1 over the flap and 4 under the abattant, resting on (not original) feet in ebonized pear.

In the back side of a small drawer, we find the inscription: “In the year 1840 on March 10 in Albenga Botega filippo (more …) carpenter and Franco Conte.
The locks of the drawers are not original; restored and polished with gommalacca.

With regard to the origin, the round corners decorated by vertical threads, the marble top as well as the very large form of the “tulip”, are particularly popular items in Piedmont and Liguria area.