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Lot Essay
This elegant table à écrire, conceived in the neoclassical style popularised by Louis XVI and the court of Versailles, is a beautiful example of David Roentgen’s unrivalled craftsmanship.
The aesthetically refined lines, superb choice of timber, distinctive ormolu and brass mounts, together with the excellent craftsmanship of this table, are all recognisable characteristics of the younger Roentgen’s distinctive oeuvre, and appear on various documented Roentgen pieces.
Born in Neuwied and son of the cabinet-maker Abraham Roentgen (1711-1793), David Roentgen (1743-1807) was one of the greatest ébénistes of his age. He joined his father's workshop in 1757 and officially took control in 1772. Under his leadership it developed into a truly pan-European enterprise and he expanded his business in an unprecedented campaign no other 18th century furniture-maker could ever match. One of his first great international patrons was Charles, Duke of Lorraine (1712-1780), Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, brother of the Emperor Francis I who was married to Maria Theresia and uncle of Queen Marie-Antoinette. In 1774 Roentgen visited Paris to get acquainted with the new neoclassical style, the latest development in the European capital of taste and fashion and by the late 1770s his furniture shows him to have adopted this new style entirely. In 1779, having sold several pieces of furniture both to King Louis XVI and to Marie-Antoinette, his efforts were rewarded with the courtesy title of ébéniste-mécanicien du Roi et de la Reine, a title that helped open doors to all the other European courts and Roentgen soon supplied furniture to many of the most discriminating aristocrats throughout Europe, including, King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, as well as the Electors of Hessen and Saxony, the Dukes of Württemberg and the Margraves of Baden.
In 1784 Roentgen travelled to Russia and was admitted at the court of Catherine II. This introduction prompted the production of some of Roentgen’s most spectacular furniture, much of which survives in the Russian state collections, and it is intriguing to note that the invoices for Roentgen’s delivery to St Petersburg in March 1786 alone list no less than eleven such oval tables in mahogany, plus another seven in “yellow wood” as well as one in “gray wood”.
The aesthetically refined lines, superb choice of timber, distinctive ormolu and brass mounts, together with the excellent craftsmanship of this table, are all recognisable characteristics of the younger Roentgen’s distinctive oeuvre, and appear on various documented Roentgen pieces.
Born in Neuwied and son of the cabinet-maker Abraham Roentgen (1711-1793), David Roentgen (1743-1807) was one of the greatest ébénistes of his age. He joined his father's workshop in 1757 and officially took control in 1772. Under his leadership it developed into a truly pan-European enterprise and he expanded his business in an unprecedented campaign no other 18th century furniture-maker could ever match. One of his first great international patrons was Charles, Duke of Lorraine (1712-1780), Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, brother of the Emperor Francis I who was married to Maria Theresia and uncle of Queen Marie-Antoinette. In 1774 Roentgen visited Paris to get acquainted with the new neoclassical style, the latest development in the European capital of taste and fashion and by the late 1770s his furniture shows him to have adopted this new style entirely. In 1779, having sold several pieces of furniture both to King Louis XVI and to Marie-Antoinette, his efforts were rewarded with the courtesy title of ébéniste-mécanicien du Roi et de la Reine, a title that helped open doors to all the other European courts and Roentgen soon supplied furniture to many of the most discriminating aristocrats throughout Europe, including, King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, as well as the Electors of Hessen and Saxony, the Dukes of Württemberg and the Margraves of Baden.
In 1784 Roentgen travelled to Russia and was admitted at the court of Catherine II. This introduction prompted the production of some of Roentgen’s most spectacular furniture, much of which survives in the Russian state collections, and it is intriguing to note that the invoices for Roentgen’s delivery to St Petersburg in March 1786 alone list no less than eleven such oval tables in mahogany, plus another seven in “yellow wood” as well as one in “gray wood”.