Provenance: Previously in the possession of the painter Kristian Zahrtmann and later in his family.

The furniture is presumed to have been made by Copenhagen cabinetmaker Johan Joakim Pengel, or his workshop, born in Brandenburg on 14 January 1752, citizen of Copenhagen 1776, died in 1819. The desk and dressing table was made c. 1796, as a similar piece of furniture bears a label from this year. The Intarsia work was possibly carried out by the Roentgen workshop in Neuwied and imported to Copenhagen. There are currently four known pieces signed by Pengel two exquisitely decorated dressing tables and two bureaus. The desk and dressing table is a piece of furniture in the English style. Both its shape and ingenious design have been copied by Pengel from The Cabinet-Makers London Book of Prices, published in 1793. Similar pieces are to be found in Hans Huth: Abraham und David Roentgen und Ihre Neuwieder-Möbel Werkstatt, photo 229. Similar pieces are also to be found at the National Museum of Denmark, the Danish Museum of Art and Design and Rosenborg Castle. The piece in the National Museum of Denmark is depicted in Tove Clemmensen's book: Signerede arbejder af Københavnske snedkere (Signed works by Copenhagen cabinetmakers) p. 251.