Rococo furniture art in Hungary reached its apogee during the reign of Maria Theresa (1740-1780). One of the most characteristic pieces of furniture of this period was the bureau cabinet, on whose middle section, which rested on a three-drawer commode, there stood a cupboard part supplied by a central door flanked by drawers. In our example, which at one time belonged to the Pallavicini family, there is an intarsia depiction of the Holy Trinity on this door. On the inside of the drawer beneath the door we see engraved the year the piece was made: 1765.

As this work shows, Hungarian cabinetmakers - unlike their French counterparts - did not employ veneer made from exotic woods, using instead walnut on a pine base. The inlay embellishment (intarsia) is cut from maple, and the figures and branch ornamentation are shaded using pokerwork. This work, too, lacks the fire-gilt bronze fittings customary on the drawer-fronts of French pieces. Instead of these we find gilded brass mountings limited to keyhole-guards and drawer-pulls. Neither were marble tops used in Hungary, nor was it usual at this time to mark furniture. Nevertheless, with its restrained shape and ribbon intarsia to match, this bureau cabinet is a defining piece in Hungarian Rococo furniture art.

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