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Lot Essay
This neoclassical games and writing table is a fine example of David Roentgen's mature production of the 1780's. Although made about fifteen years later than the marquetry-decorated example from the Roentgen workshop (see lot 114 in this sale), the mechanism performs exactly the same functions, turning the smart, restrained table into four different positions with their individual uses. Apparently this multi-functional type of furniture enjoyed continuous popularity, reflecting the 18th-Century love for complicated mechanisms and unexpected surprises. It was this mechanical aspect to Roentgen's furniture that was particularly prized by his contemporaries, being singled out for praise by even the greatest German writer of the time, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. For his most elaborate pieces Roentgen collaborated with the clockmaker from Neuwied, Peter Kinzing, and after he had sold an automaton produced together with Kinzing to Queen Marie-Antoinette in 1785 he was appointed ébéniste mécanicien du Roi et de la Reine, a rare distinction which had previously been conferred, in 1760, upon the famous Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763), who like Roentgen was of German origin.
David Roentgen produced the first mechanical tables of this neoclassical model in 1771, for his progressive and exacting patron, Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau. The Prince placed them at his revolutionary country house at Wörlitz, where they remain (D. Fabian, Abraham und David Roentgen, Das noch aufgefundene Gesamtwerk ihrer Möbel- und Uhrenkunst in Verbindung mit der Uhrmacherfamilie Kinzing in Neuwied, Bad Neustadt/Saale, 1996, Nos. 47a-b). The Wörlitz tables are still decorated with marquetry, as are the richly mounted pair made for Roentgen's principal client of the mid-1770's, Prince Charles of Lorraine, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, which are preserved at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna (Fabian, Nos. 67 and 68). In the 1780's, when Roentgen favoured plain mahogany veneers instead of colourful marquetry, this model continued to be popular with princely patrons, as is demonstrated by a very closely related example now at Pavlovsk which must have formed part of Roentgen's extensive deliveries to the Russian court from 1783 onwards (Fabian, No. 103).
Deceptively simple in outline and decoration, the table displays Roentgen's use of beautifully figured veneers, highlighted by subtly raised panels with indented corners, delicate mouldings and beautifully finished mounts. The influence of contemporary Parisian ébénisterie is apparent, and indeed, not only did Roentgen study the work of his French peers, but by 1779 he was actually ordering many of his mounts from the famous maître-doreur in Paris, François Rémond (1747-1812). Even the comparatively simple mounts on this table may have been supplied by Rémond (C. Baulez, 'David Roentgen et François Rémond, une collaboration majeure dans l'histoire du mobilier', L'Objet d'Art/l'Estampille 305 (September 1996), pp. 96-118). They are all stock models; an unusual feature are the circular disks backing the lively acanthus rosettes.
David Roentgen produced the first mechanical tables of this neoclassical model in 1771, for his progressive and exacting patron, Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau. The Prince placed them at his revolutionary country house at Wörlitz, where they remain (D. Fabian, Abraham und David Roentgen, Das noch aufgefundene Gesamtwerk ihrer Möbel- und Uhrenkunst in Verbindung mit der Uhrmacherfamilie Kinzing in Neuwied, Bad Neustadt/Saale, 1996, Nos. 47a-b). The Wörlitz tables are still decorated with marquetry, as are the richly mounted pair made for Roentgen's principal client of the mid-1770's, Prince Charles of Lorraine, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, which are preserved at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna (Fabian, Nos. 67 and 68). In the 1780's, when Roentgen favoured plain mahogany veneers instead of colourful marquetry, this model continued to be popular with princely patrons, as is demonstrated by a very closely related example now at Pavlovsk which must have formed part of Roentgen's extensive deliveries to the Russian court from 1783 onwards (Fabian, No. 103).
Deceptively simple in outline and decoration, the table displays Roentgen's use of beautifully figured veneers, highlighted by subtly raised panels with indented corners, delicate mouldings and beautifully finished mounts. The influence of contemporary Parisian ébénisterie is apparent, and indeed, not only did Roentgen study the work of his French peers, but by 1779 he was actually ordering many of his mounts from the famous maître-doreur in Paris, François Rémond (1747-1812). Even the comparatively simple mounts on this table may have been supplied by Rémond (C. Baulez, 'David Roentgen et François Rémond, une collaboration majeure dans l'histoire du mobilier', L'Objet d'Art/l'Estampille 305 (September 1996), pp. 96-118). They are all stock models; an unusual feature are the circular disks backing the lively acanthus rosettes.