New York furniture show

I got a notification of this show. (No pictures)

Metropolitan of Art Web Site

If you click on the exhibitions link toward the top you can see some of their pieces.

Exhibit at the Met: cabinet makers of the 18th century

Roentgens used Caribbean mahogany, cherry and walnut to build furniture with moving and hidden parts.

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is now exhibiting a collection of furniture by German cabinetmakers of the 18th century, according to the New York Times online.

Abraham Roentgen and his son David crafted dressing tables, clocks and writing desks for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Pope Pius VI, Catherine the Great and other nobles of Europe.

Using Caribbean mahogany, cherry and walnut, they decorated their pieces with embedded bits of wood or ivory to create chinoiserie and allegorical scenes. But what they were most renowned for was their use of secret drawers, moving parts and hidden music boxes, sometimes opened by the push of a button.

The exhibit, “Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens,” was organized by Wolfram Koeppe, the Marina Kellen French curator in the museum’s Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts.
“They were more than cabinetmakers,” he told the New York Times. “They were artisans, they were designers, and David, especially, was a business genius.”

The son, according to Koeppe, was a clever salesman. He would work his way in to introduce himself to the nobles of France and Germany, then show them pieces that appealed to their tastes. Even Catherine the Great has a piece by the team, a writing desk with a knob in the shape of her favorite dog.

The show is on display until January 27.

-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †