Slant-top desk

Both the name (that comes from the Medieval French and hints at the type of the linen used as a pad for writing) and antecedents are much older.

A medieval example is provided by a Swedish desk with a sloped surface made at the turn of the 13th century, although writing boxes, and not freestanding furniture, were typical prior to Renaissance, when cabinets with a drop-leaf board for writing started to appear in Italy and Spain (cf.

By 1700 the English bureaus switched from supporting legs to set drawers all the way to the floor; one of the most popular versions was the bureau-cabinet with a tall cabinet above the desk.

[1] The designs from England quickly spread throughout the Northern Europe and Italy, in the process getting elaborate outlines.

For instance, some slant-top desks have very crude chains or levers to hold the desktop in an open working position, while others have elegant sliders ("lopers") which are manually or automatically extended to give support.