Lot Essay
This elegant writing table belongs to a small group of tables of this model by a little known Viennese cabinet-maker only identified by his surname of Holl (see G. Himmelheber, Biedermeier Furniture, 1973, pp.58-59) .Other examples include: one in Schloss Karslust in Austria, the drawer signed B HOLL BDM WIEN ;one in Graz Museum, Austria (illustrated ibid.fig.11); one signed Holl formerly in the Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Künst , destroyed in the Second World War , and another unsigned in the Geymüller-Schlossel branch of the Museum für Angewandte Künst. Another more elaborate version in the collection of the Grand Dukes of Baden, Schloss Schwetzingen, is illustrated ibid. plate A .Himmelheber also points to a drawing for a similar table by a student in Carl Schmidt's drawing school, Vienna , c.1825 (illustrated ibid.fig.12), indicating that it may be unwise to attribute all tables of this model to Holl.