Getty Museum

Writing Stand (Gradin)

Date

about 1692–1700

Medium

Oak and walnut veneered with brass, copper, silver, ebony, painted horn (some laid on gold foil), mother-of-pearl, and tortoiseshell; silvered-bronze mounts; silk velvet

Culture

French

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

A *gradin* is a piece of furniture with drawers and cubbyholes which goes on top of a desk to hold writing implements and materials. Nearly the entire surface of this *gradin* is covered with a colorful veneer of various exotic materials, including brass, tortoiseshell, copper, pewter, ebony, ivory, mother-of-pearl, and horn painted red, blue, orange, and green. An elaborate array of objects decorates the surface, including reclining figures, birds, animals, cupids, and vases of fruit and flowers. This *gradin* was made to accompany the [*bureau Mazarin*](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/5948/unknown-maker-desk-bureau-mazarin-french-about-1692-1700/?dz=#dbb9a1f85686a649b490d8a53c56d8d08e6de95d) desk in the Getty collection. Maximilian Emanuel, the Elector of Bavaria, commissioned this desk and *gradin*, as he had developed a taste for French furniture when he was exiled in Paris around 1700. When the Getty purchased the desk in 1987, the desk and its *gradin* had been separated, sometime in the mid 1900s. Fortunately, an art dealer recognized the *gradin* in 2008 and the museum was able to reunite the pieces.

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