tambour desk
Illustration — Tambour desk (Boston, 1793-1798) by John Seymour and Thomas Seymour with the tabletop folded up, handles of supporting sliders visible on the sides of the top drawer • Illustration — Pigeonholes behind the left shutters A tambour desk is a desk with desktop-based drawers and pigeonholes, in a way resembling bureau à gradin. The small drawers and nooks are covered, when required, by reeded or slatted shutters, tambours, which usually retract in the two sides, left and right. It is a flatter and "sideways" version of the rolltop desk.
tambour desk
The Temporary American Eagle Exhibit at Taylor University · Public domain
- Field
- desk
- Region
- United States
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — Tambour desk (Boston, 1793-1798) by John Seymour and Thomas Seymour with the tabletop folded up, handles of supporting sliders visible on the sides of the top drawer • Illustration — Pigeonholes behind the left shutters A tambour desk is a desk with desktop-based drawers and pigeonholes, in a way resembling bureau à gradin. The small drawers and nooks are covered, when required, by reeded or slatted shutters, tambours, which usually retract in the two sides, left and right. It is a flatter and "sideways" version of the rolltop desk.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for tambour desk. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q7681069 · wikipedia · Tambour desk
In this article
Overview
Overview
Unlike the rolltop desk, the tambour desk uses straight, perfectly vertical rows of shutters, and the work surface rests on a few drawers, which in turn are supported by short legs instead of pedestals. In addition, half of the desktop folds back on itself when not in use. The desktop is supported by sliders, like a secretary desk or a slant top desk when it is unfolded. "Tambour" can also refer to the cover made of strips of wood of a roll-top desk is called a tambour. This has been adopted to describe an office cupboard that is designed to have doors that conceal within the cabinet when opened, also known as roller-shutters. The tambour desk is an antique form indigenous to the United States of America and should not be confused with the British tambour writing table.
It is associated with United States.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United States
Named but not plotted · 1
tambour desk is associated with United States.
Country
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Furniture
924 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Tabnit sarcophagusTerminology
- taboretTerminology
- TakamikuraTerminology
- tallboyTerminology
- tansuTerminology
- tapchanTerminology
- Taurobolic AltarTerminology
- TeapoyTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with tambour desk?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.