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拍品專文
Decorated with enchanting Chinoiserie scenes in Roentgen's trademark marquetry à la mosaïque and mounted with jewel-like ormolu mounts this splendid roll-top desk is a superb example of Roentgen's work at the height of his career. The elegant form, inspired by Parisian models of the new Louis XVI style, serves as the perfect vehicle for the display of the splendid marquetry for which Roentgen was rightly celebrated across Europe, and is highlighted and framed by the exquisite mounts, which were almost certainly supplied by the Parisian maître-doreur François Rémond, underlining the international standing of this magnificent piece. This bureau is a demonstration of European ébénisterie at the highest possible level and the inlaid monogram 'DR', beneath the keyhole, indicates that Roentgen himself must have considered this a work worthy of bearing his signature.
ROENTGEN'S CAREER IN THE 1770s
In 1772 David Roentgen took full command of the Neuwied cabinet-making workshop that had been set up by his father Abraham (1711-1793) in the 1740s and concentrated on expanding his business and conquering Europe in an unprecedented campaign. His first great international patron 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, among many other Princes and Princesses, Queen Marie-Antoinette. Charles of Lorraine spurred Roentgen on with spectacular commissions, allowing his ambition to expand almost without bounds (R. Baarsen and L. de Ren, 'Ébénisterie at the court of Charles of Lorraine', in The Burlington Magazine 147 (2005), pp. 95-96, figs. 22-24). In 1774 Roentgen visited Paris to acquaint himself with the latest developments in the European capital of taste and fashion. It may have been Charles of Lorraine who procured for him the highly coveted entry to the French court during his second visit to Paris, in 1779, when he sold several pieces of furniture both to King Louis XVI and to Marie-Antoinette who rewarded his efforts with the courtesy title of ébéniste-mécanicien de la Reine (H. Huth, Roentgen furniture, Abraham and David Roentgen: European Cabinet-Makers, London and New York, 1974, pp. 16-19). One of the pieces he sold to the Queen was a roll-top desk that is closely related to the present piece, though with a different superstructure. Marie-Antoinette presented it to Pope Pius IV Braschi and it is now in the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin (Huth, op. cit., figs. 55-59; Fabian, op. cit., 1996, no. 231).
CHINOISERIE MARQUETRY À LA MOSAÏQUE
One of the chief glories of Roentgen's furniture of the 1770s is his unique marquetry à la mosaïque, whereby no pieces of wood were scorched in hot sand to achieve the effect of shading, and no engraving was employed, but the full design was executed as a mosaic of small pieces of wood, like an intricate jigsaw puzzle. Roentgen first mentions this technique in describing a bureau that was offered as the first prize in a lottery of the firm's furniture organized in Hamburg in 1768 and it is interesting to note that this desk was already decorated with Chinoiserie scenes. A slightly later bureau of circa 1771-72, an early form of roll-top desk made for the Margrave of Baden, demonstrates that by that time Roentgen had elaborated a highly sophisticated repertory of Chinoiserie scenes that he was to employ over and over again. They appear mainly to have been derived from engravings by the French artist Jean Pillement (1728-1803) as well as those of the Augsburg engraver Martin Engelbrecht (1684-1756). After 1775, the Chinoiserie scenes become more precise and gain a recognizably neo-classical equilibrium, as demonstrated on the present desk.
ROENTGEN'S ROLLTOP DESKS
The splendid exhibition dedicated to the Roentgens presented at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 2012 featured a wide range of cylinder bureaus from Neuwied. In fact nine of the sixty-nine main exhibits listed in the superb catalogue that accompanied the display were cylinder bureaus. Boasting provenances from across Europe, including the Dukes of Devonshire and the Landgraves and Grand Dukes of Hessen-Kassel, to Louis XVI and Catherine the Great, they are evidence of the high regard with which Roentgen's rolltop desks were seen and what an important part of his oeuvre they form. While only two of the bureaus exhibited feature similar Chinoiserie marquetry the composition on this roll-top already occurs on a number of desks of an earlier form, with cabriole legs, of which one was delivered to the Elector of Bavaria and another to the Elector of Saxony (Fabian, op. cit., 1996, nos. 217, 219 and 221; B. Langer and A. Herzog von Württemberg, Die Möbel der Residenz München, vol.II, Die deutschen Möbel des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts, Munich-New York, 1996, no. 67). These desks date from around 1773-1775. Several of the marquetry scenes employed on the present piece recur in almost exactly the same manner on the earlier-mentioned desk sold to Marie Antoinette in 1779, and are also nearly all repeated on the most closely related rolltop desk, which is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and which - like the present desk - bears the monogram 'DR' (W. Koeppe, Extravant inventions: The princely furniture of the Roentgens, New Haven and London, 2012, cat. 29, pp. 122-25 and Fabian, 1996, no. 230). A further Chinoiserie roll-top desk, with a larger superstructure and different scenes, is at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg; it was probably delivered as late as 1786 although probably made around 1780 (Fabian, op. cit., 1996, no. 232).
MOUNTS FROM PARIS
Immediately during his first visit to Paris in 1774, Roentgen must have been struck by the jewel-like quality of the best gilt-bronze furniture mounts produced there, a quality he realised he would never be able to match in his native country. He may have already met the maître-doreur François Rémond, from whom he certainly bought mounts in and after 1779, but perhaps from as early as 1774. Rémond's ledgers, which only survive from 1779 onwards, show that he regularly supplied Roentgen with extremely elaborate and costly sculptural mounts as well as with small, simple ornaments. A recurring item are poignées en draperies which must refer to the drapery handles found on the present desk and on many other pieces of furniture by Roentgen, including the elegant architect's table also featured in this sale (C. Baulez, 'David Roentgen et François Rémond, une collaboration majeure dans l'histoire du mobilier européen' in L'Objet d'art/l'Estampille 305 (September 1996), pp. 96-118).
ROENTGEN'S CAREER IN THE 1770s
In 1772 David Roentgen took full command of the Neuwied cabinet-making workshop that had been set up by his father Abraham (1711-1793) in the 1740s and concentrated on expanding his business and conquering Europe in an unprecedented campaign. His first great international patron 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, among many other Princes and Princesses, Queen Marie-Antoinette. Charles of Lorraine spurred Roentgen on with spectacular commissions, allowing his ambition to expand almost without bounds (R. Baarsen and L. de Ren, 'Ébénisterie at the court of Charles of Lorraine', in The Burlington Magazine 147 (2005), pp. 95-96, figs. 22-24). In 1774 Roentgen visited Paris to acquaint himself with the latest developments in the European capital of taste and fashion. It may have been Charles of Lorraine who procured for him the highly coveted entry to the French court during his second visit to Paris, in 1779, when he sold several pieces of furniture both to King Louis XVI and to Marie-Antoinette who rewarded his efforts with the courtesy title of ébéniste-mécanicien de la Reine (H. Huth, Roentgen furniture, Abraham and David Roentgen: European Cabinet-Makers, London and New York, 1974, pp. 16-19). One of the pieces he sold to the Queen was a roll-top desk that is closely related to the present piece, though with a different superstructure. Marie-Antoinette presented it to Pope Pius IV Braschi and it is now in the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin (Huth, op. cit., figs. 55-59; Fabian, op. cit., 1996, no. 231).
CHINOISERIE MARQUETRY À LA MOSAÏQUE
One of the chief glories of Roentgen's furniture of the 1770s is his unique marquetry à la mosaïque, whereby no pieces of wood were scorched in hot sand to achieve the effect of shading, and no engraving was employed, but the full design was executed as a mosaic of small pieces of wood, like an intricate jigsaw puzzle. Roentgen first mentions this technique in describing a bureau that was offered as the first prize in a lottery of the firm's furniture organized in Hamburg in 1768 and it is interesting to note that this desk was already decorated with Chinoiserie scenes. A slightly later bureau of circa 1771-72, an early form of roll-top desk made for the Margrave of Baden, demonstrates that by that time Roentgen had elaborated a highly sophisticated repertory of Chinoiserie scenes that he was to employ over and over again. They appear mainly to have been derived from engravings by the French artist Jean Pillement (1728-1803) as well as those of the Augsburg engraver Martin Engelbrecht (1684-1756). After 1775, the Chinoiserie scenes become more precise and gain a recognizably neo-classical equilibrium, as demonstrated on the present desk.
ROENTGEN'S ROLLTOP DESKS
The splendid exhibition dedicated to the Roentgens presented at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 2012 featured a wide range of cylinder bureaus from Neuwied. In fact nine of the sixty-nine main exhibits listed in the superb catalogue that accompanied the display were cylinder bureaus. Boasting provenances from across Europe, including the Dukes of Devonshire and the Landgraves and Grand Dukes of Hessen-Kassel, to Louis XVI and Catherine the Great, they are evidence of the high regard with which Roentgen's rolltop desks were seen and what an important part of his oeuvre they form. While only two of the bureaus exhibited feature similar Chinoiserie marquetry the composition on this roll-top already occurs on a number of desks of an earlier form, with cabriole legs, of which one was delivered to the Elector of Bavaria and another to the Elector of Saxony (Fabian, op. cit., 1996, nos. 217, 219 and 221; B. Langer and A. Herzog von Württemberg, Die Möbel der Residenz München, vol.II, Die deutschen Möbel des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts, Munich-New York, 1996, no. 67). These desks date from around 1773-1775. Several of the marquetry scenes employed on the present piece recur in almost exactly the same manner on the earlier-mentioned desk sold to Marie Antoinette in 1779, and are also nearly all repeated on the most closely related rolltop desk, which is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and which - like the present desk - bears the monogram 'DR' (W. Koeppe, Extravant inventions: The princely furniture of the Roentgens, New Haven and London, 2012, cat. 29, pp. 122-25 and Fabian, 1996, no. 230). A further Chinoiserie roll-top desk, with a larger superstructure and different scenes, is at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg; it was probably delivered as late as 1786 although probably made around 1780 (Fabian, op. cit., 1996, no. 232).
MOUNTS FROM PARIS
Immediately during his first visit to Paris in 1774, Roentgen must have been struck by the jewel-like quality of the best gilt-bronze furniture mounts produced there, a quality he realised he would never be able to match in his native country. He may have already met the maître-doreur François Rémond, from whom he certainly bought mounts in and after 1779, but perhaps from as early as 1774. Rémond's ledgers, which only survive from 1779 onwards, show that he regularly supplied Roentgen with extremely elaborate and costly sculptural mounts as well as with small, simple ornaments. A recurring item are poignées en draperies which must refer to the drapery handles found on the present desk and on many other pieces of furniture by Roentgen, including the elegant architect's table also featured in this sale (C. Baulez, 'David Roentgen et François Rémond, une collaboration majeure dans l'histoire du mobilier européen' in L'Objet d'art/l'Estampille 305 (September 1996), pp. 96-118).