105. A Mazarin eight-legged desk with inlaid decoration on the top, in bois de rapport and ivory on an ebony base, of a large vase of flowers on an entablature under a canopy, flanked by scrolls terminating in grotesque masks, foliage, birds and butterflies in flight. Below the vase, a mascaron of a bearded old man is flanked by winged sphinxes seated on scrolls. Each drawer is inlaid with flowers in full bloom on either side of an axis of symmetry materialized by a patinated bronze keyhole set in the center of a motif decorated with masks and foliage. Each side is also adorned with inlaid panels depicting vases of flowers set on entablatures and surrounded by jagged acanthus leaves and scrolls. It opens with six curved-front drawers in two boxes on either side of a recessed central niche opening into a convex door topped by a drawer. The console-shaped uprights rest on sheathed legs topped with carved and gilded wood capitals, joined by two "X" braces. The top is bordered by a varnished brass moulding. Fir and oak frame. Attributed to Renaud GAUDRON. Louis XIV period, circa 1690. (Marquetry missing, elements detached, bevelled reinforcements on the reverse, wormholes, brace added, legs and uprights added). Height: 80 cm. Width: 120 cm. Depth: 70.5 cm. Our desk bears many similarities to the one in the Mobilier National (inv. GME 5564). The two tops offer an almost identical composition, articulated around a vase of flowers crowned by a canopy with lambrequins, next to which we observe winged sphinxes, profiles of Indian-style masks, the mask of a bearded old man, as well as birds and butterflies in flight. As on the Mobilier National desk, a few ivory-inlaid flowers stand out from the composition. Also attributed to Renaud Gaudron, an eight-legged desk (documented by Galerie Gismondi, Paris) shows many similarities with our desk. These include the use of recurring decorative motifs such as winged sphinxes, the mask of a bearded old man and leafy profiles on either side of the drawer keyways. Finally, a chest of drawers attributed to Renaud Gaudron (Paris Galliera, Me Ader, March 30, 1965, lot 69) features a similar marquetry on the top, with a large canopy over a vase of flowers. This type of desk was very popular during the reign of Louis XIV. Among the royal commissions carried out by Renaud Gaudron are two desks delivered on November 10, 1688 for Madame de Maintenon in Versailles, upholstered in "inlaid wood with flowers, each with seven drawers and a lockable cupboard in the middle, whose lock escutcheons are of gilded bronze, above which is represented a vase full of flowers pozé on a waiting table with oyseaux and butterflies, carried by eight pillars in terms with gilded bazes and boulles". Renaud Gaudron trained in his father Aubertin Gaudron's workshop, then became master before June 1684 when his mother gave him the position of ordinary carpenter to the Duchess of Orleans, which had belonged to his father. A supplier to the Garde Meuble de la Couronne from 1686, then to the Menus Plaisirs from 1698, his clientele included Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, mistress of English King Charles II. Bibliography: ALCOUFFE, D., BELLAIGUE, G. de, Le mobilier Renaissance et Louis XIV, coll. Antiquités & Objets d'art, Paris, Fabri, 1991. DEMETRESCU, C., Les ébénistes de la Couronne sous le règne de Louis XIV, La Bibliothèque des Arts, Lausanne, 2021. LUNSINGH SCHEURLEER, Th. H., Pierre GOLE, Ebéniste de Louis XIV, éditions Faton, Dijon, 2005. VERLET, Pierre, Le Mobilier royal français, Paris, t. III, 1994, p. 21-23.