Acquired in Paris by Alexandre (1847-1925) and Emilie Sursock (d.1935) around 1895 for their palace in Alexandria, Egypt; thence by descent

See note on lot 13 for more on Pierre IV Migeon. A similar small kingwood secrétaire à abattant by Migeon was sold The Collection of Mrs Edward F. Hutton, Sotheby's New York, June 9, 1972, lot 808, a further secrétaire by Migeon with bois de bout floral marquetry was sold Christie's New York, 31 March 2016, lot 1310 ($30,000).

The Sursocks, a Greek Orthodox family originally from Constantinople but recorded in Lebanon from 1714, are one of Beirut’s aristocratic ‘Seven Families’. In the 19^th century they acquired wealth through agriculture and manufacturing and expanded their business interests throughout the Ottoman Empire.  In the 20^th century several members of the family married into the Italian aristocracy, including the Colonna and Serra families, and became important art patrons, notably Yvonne Sursock, owner of the historic Palais Sursock in Beirut; Nicholas Sursock (d.1952), whose Beirut palace is now the Sursock Museum, and Dimitri Sursock, Duca di Cervinara, who bequeathed an important collection of French 18th-century pictures to the Palazzo Bꦇarberini Gallery in Rome in 1962.