bureau, in the United States, a chest of drawers; in Europe a writing desk, usually with a hinged writing flap that rests at a sloping angle when closed and, when opened, reveals a tier of pigeonholes, small drawers, and sometimes a small cupboard. The bureau (French: “office”) first appeared in France at the beginning of the 17th century as just a flat table with drawers below the top, the bureau plat. By Louis XIV’s reign, a kneehole type was in use, with a tier of drawers on each side and a single drawer in the centre above a space for the knees.
In England the bureau did not appear until after the end of Charles II’s reign, and even then the term was ill defined. As late as 1803 Thomas Sheraton stated, in The Cabinet Dictionary, that it had “generally been applied to common desks with drawers under them, such as are made very frequently in country towns.” In the early 18th century one form of bureau consisted of a bank of drawers below a sloping writing flap, the whole piece resting on cabriole legs. Many bureaus of this period and earlier were surmounted by a bookcase with one or two doors, which were sometimes glazed. The Dutch were quick to copy this idea, and thus the bureau-bookcase, often fitted with an ingenious combination of drawers and compartments, spread to other parts of Europe.
About 1730, under the influence of Palladian architecture, the central compartment of the large bureau-bookcase was designed to project, while compartments at the sides formed wings. In The Gentleman and Cabinetmaker’s Director (1754), Thomas Chippendale illustrated bureau-bookcases with Rococo and chinoiserie (Chinese-style) decoration, the upper portions glazed within ornate framing.
Two forms of bureau were used specifically in bedrooms. One was combined with a highboy (a tall chest of drawers with a legged base), one of the drawers pulling out and the front lowering to serve as a writing surface. The other, a bureau-dressing table, was surmounted by a mirror. See also secretary.