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Lot Essay
This early neocassical secretaire, is probably from the workshop of Friedrich Gottlob Hoffmann of Leipzig, the court cabinet-maker to Saxon Elector. Hoffman was active between 1770 and 1806, and was appointed court cabinet-maker in 1795. With up to 42 employees, the workshop had an extraordinary size for a German cabinet maker at that time and can only be compared in size with the Roentgen workshop. The publication in 1789 and 1795 of two furniture catalogues by Hoffman resulted in orders from all over Europe. Where the first catalogue was still influenced by French design, the second catalogue was characterised by sobre, strict neo-classical designs, strongly influenced by Hepplewhite, yet characteristic of the so-called Zopf-Stil. As far as we know, Hoffmann did not sign his furniture. In his furniture catalogue no plate is completely identical to this cabinet, however when we divide the secretaire into commode and superstructure, these can be identified to different plates in his 1795 catalogue. The unusual central section with writing slope between cubic box-shaped drawers derives from plate 26. Also illustrated on the same plate are the distinctive vase-shaped cassolettes, which form a highly unusual and characteristic detail. The design of the commode section conforms with several Hoffmann designs which have corinthean pilasters applied to canted angles as a recurrant theme.
The elegant design of this piece is further strengthened by the use of different types of mahogany in the solid and as veneer, thereby creating depth and emphasising the architectural character. The metalwork can in some cases be found on different plates from Hoffmann's catalogues, for example on plates 26, and 12 to 14 of his second catalogue.
The castle Gross-Sedlitz, was one of the residencies of the Elector of Saxony Friedrich August III. This provenance is recorded in pencil on the bottom of a drawer: Schreibtisch aus Schloss Gross-Sedlitz bey Dresden, E. Hensler 27. VII.1933. Hensler was an employee of the Wettin family - the electors of Saxony, and received certain pieces of furniture from Gross-Sedlitz upon her retirement. She had index cards for each piece of furniture in her collection, on the index card for the present secretaire she wrote:
Louis XVI Schreibtisch mit aufklappbarer Schreibplatte, unten 2 Schubladen. Die beiden Dekorationsvasen rechts u. links sind als Leuchter zu benutzen. Aus Schloss Gros-Sedlitz stammend,
1,53 auf 1,19 uber 0,59 tief Aus der Abfindung Inv. Verz.:
III Herrenzimmer, Nr 53
This is confirmed by the 1861 inventory of Gross-Sedlitz, kept in the Staatsarchiv Dresden, which mentions a
Mahagoni Schreibtisch mit Aufsatz
This secretaire forms a new addition to the oevre of Hoffmann a cabinet-maker who untill recently had been forgotten, and this may be the first Hoffmann piece forming the connection between Hoffmann and the Court of the Saxon Electors.
Friedrich Gottlob Hoffmann, Abbildungen der vornehmsten Tischlerarbeiten, Leipzig 1789, re-printed Leipzig 1978.
W. Eller, Möbel des Klassizismus, Louis XVI und Empire, München 2002, p. 150, 155.
We are grateful to Dr. Phil. Barbara Post for her help in cataloguing
this lot.
The elegant design of this piece is further strengthened by the use of different types of mahogany in the solid and as veneer, thereby creating depth and emphasising the architectural character. The metalwork can in some cases be found on different plates from Hoffmann's catalogues, for example on plates 26, and 12 to 14 of his second catalogue.
The castle Gross-Sedlitz, was one of the residencies of the Elector of Saxony Friedrich August III. This provenance is recorded in pencil on the bottom of a drawer: Schreibtisch aus Schloss Gross-Sedlitz bey Dresden, E. Hensler 27. VII.1933. Hensler was an employee of the Wettin family - the electors of Saxony, and received certain pieces of furniture from Gross-Sedlitz upon her retirement. She had index cards for each piece of furniture in her collection, on the index card for the present secretaire she wrote:
Louis XVI Schreibtisch mit aufklappbarer Schreibplatte, unten 2 Schubladen. Die beiden Dekorationsvasen rechts u. links sind als Leuchter zu benutzen. Aus Schloss Gros-Sedlitz stammend,
1,53 auf 1,19 uber 0,59 tief Aus der Abfindung Inv. Verz.:
III Herrenzimmer, Nr 53
This is confirmed by the 1861 inventory of Gross-Sedlitz, kept in the Staatsarchiv Dresden, which mentions a
Mahagoni Schreibtisch mit Aufsatz
This secretaire forms a new addition to the oevre of Hoffmann a cabinet-maker who untill recently had been forgotten, and this may be the first Hoffmann piece forming the connection between Hoffmann and the Court of the Saxon Electors.
Friedrich Gottlob Hoffmann, Abbildungen der vornehmsten Tischlerarbeiten, Leipzig 1789, re-printed Leipzig 1978.
W. Eller, Möbel des Klassizismus, Louis XVI und Empire, München 2002, p. 150, 155.
We are grateful to Dr. Phil. Barbara Post for her help in cataloguing
this lot.