Antique desks are diverse and historical.
Antique desks can serve as ornamental pieces to fit the mood or design of a room or can be used as functional pieces. Antique desks are perfect for those looking for diversity of design or history in a piece of furniture. Given the panorama of furniture styles, an antique desk could be an ancient Chinese writing desk or a Civil War relic. Enumerated below are a few examples of antique desks.
Art Deco
Art Deco is a style from the early 20th century that reached the height of its popularity in Europe during the 1920’s and in America during the 1930’s. Art Deco furniture incorporated ideas from a number of artistic schools of thought, many of them, such as Cubism and Neoclassicism, at great odds with one another. Art Deco desks combine aesthetic and practical elements to create pleasing pieces that are also functional. Desks in the Art Deco style generally shy from extremes: lines are either straight or gently curving.
Rococo
The florid, fluid, and playful styles of Rococo furniture came to replace the very dramatic and grandiose postures of Baroque furniture in the French court during the middle of the 18th century. Rococo is a style marked by curved legs and complexly carved ornamentation, often accented by the use of gold. Rococo desks from France and Venice are very different in style. The French style is tall and thin, the Venetian short and wide, though both have curved legs and a enough gold to go around.
Victorian
Antique Victorian desks run an extensive stylistic gamut. The reign of Queen Victoria, for whom the period is named, lasted from 1837-1901. The burgeoning industrial revolution of the period is responsible for a number of mass-produced desks, which were affordable alternatives to the handcrafted, artisan pieces that were also being created at the time. The Victorian Eastlake and Aesthetic Movement was responsible for straight lines and practical pieces devoid of the flourishes of the Gothic, Renaissance and even Rococo revival movements of Victorian times, which produced desks with spires, curves, and ostentatious ornamentation.
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