Abstract The article deals with an object which has hitherto been overlooked, but which was essential to Aby Warburg’s work: the desk. While in a first step sources are collected from and about Warburg, which emphasize the significance of the desk for Warburg’s work, a second step is taken to reconstruct a specific type of desk that was of great importance to Warburg. From the identification of this work table the thesis is derived that this table played a decisive role in the formation of the tableaus of the Mnemosyne Atlas.