The stencilled label to the reverse of this secretaire may relate to the firms of the Lanzani family, based in Meda, to the north of Milan. The furniture-making business was established in 1798 by a monsieur Maunier, a French settler to the region who supplied the Napoleonic army and established a company producing furniture made by fellow French émigré craftsmen and local Italian artisans employing their techniques. Having passed through seven generations of the Lanzani family, the company became known as P. & G. Cugini Lanzani and seems to have dealt predominantly in chairs and small tables, though it is possible that they occasionally branched into other forms such as secretaires. It is equally possible that this was retailed by the company hence the inclusion of their label, and indeed there is record of another family business in Meda in the 1950s - Figli di Luigi Lanzani - that is recorded as having dealt in period furniture rather than reproductions, as was and still is the main business of the original family firm.



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