Here we have a secretary desk constructed from lumber-core plywood with veneers of Macassar ebony, oak, poplar and mahogany. Its legs are capped with ivory with ivory stripes running up outer sides of front supports. On the bottom of the desk is a horizontal drawer accessed by beaded tassel pulls set in ivory mounts. The desk’s contents are accessed by a key inserted into a keyhole inscribed by inset oval of inlaid ivory. Closed in the first image, there is an accompanying second image where the top half is opened. The interior and writing surface is sheathed in deep oxblood leather. There are more ivory and tasseled-pulls and to provide access to two storage drawers and cabinet on the left side. To the right are open, squared spaces. A ring of rectangular ivory inlay runs around the upper perimeter of the cabinet.

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Object Timeline

	We acquired this object.
0	Work on this object ended.
1923	Work on this object began.
2017	We photographed this object. We photographed this object. We exhibited this object.
2025	You found it!

Desk, Tibattant

This is a Desk. It was designed by Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

It is dated ca. 1923. Its medium is macassar ebony, ivory, leather, aluminum leaf, silver, silk, oak, lumber-core plywood, poplar, mahogany.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first Decorative Arts Curator Joseph Breck purchased this desk from Ruhlmann in 1923, making it the first work by the designer to enter a public collection. Breck wrote, “Perfection of craftsmanship is united in Ruhlmann’s work with a luxurious employment of precious materials.”

It is credited Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Edward C. Moore Jr. Gift, 1923 (23.174).