Desk

The displayed desk was purchased for the interiors of the Łańcut residence modernised before the I World War, in the time of Elżbieta and Roman. The neo-Rococo desk, veneered with 'royal' wood (tropical afzelia, known as 'doussie' from the French) and decorated with patterned inlay and bronze castings, was made by the well-known Viennese company Portois & Fix, established in 1881. The partners likely met at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair. August Portois, French by origin, was an interior decorator with experience in the furniture trade, who established a branch of the Parisian trade association "Societé Commerciale de Paris" in Vienna. Portois executed commissions for the representatives of the imperial family. Anton Fix came from a multi-generational family of Viennese upholsterers-decorators. In 1872, he took over the workshop from his father. Relying on the artisan background of the Fix family, the Portois & Fix company began the production of high-quality furniture for comprehensive interior design, gaining considerable popularity in the 1990s. Before 1900, production was focused on the aesthetics of historical styles that were fashionable at the time. French fashions of past eras were imitated with particular favour. The 'bureau plat'-type desk was made in the style of Louis XV. Teresa Bagińska-Żurawska https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9243-3967