A chest of drawers from the workshop of David Roentgen - image-1
A chest of drawers from the workshop of David Roentgen - image-2
A chest of drawers from the workshop of David Roentgen - image-3
A chest of drawers from the workshop of David Roentgen - image-1A chest of drawers from the workshop of David Roentgen - image-2A chest of drawers from the workshop of David Roentgen - image-3

Lot 406 Dα

A chest of drawers from the workshop of David Roentgen

Auction 1159 - overview Cologne
13.11.2020, 17:00 - Fit For A King - Abraham and David Roentgen
Estimate: 20.000 € - 30.000 €
Result: 26.250 € (incl. premium)

A chest of drawers from the workshop of David Roentgen

Walnut, kingwood, cherry, plum, maple, partially stained wood veneers on oak and softwood corpus. Ormolu mountings and “rouge royal” marble. With two drawers, sans traverse, on tapering curved supports of square section. Lambrequin apron with low middle section. Bombé form in the area of the lower drawers, the sides concave in the centre. The vertically grained veneer finely inlaid on three faces with ombre garlands of flowers suspended from ribbons. The drawerpull designed as a round medallion with a female bust in profile framed by a hinged ring shaped like a wreath suspended from a ribbon. With a label to the reverse signed "Roentgen Neuwied" in ink. One open vertical shrinkage crack to the right side. H 80, W 78, D 41 cm.
1770s.

In contrast to their earlier floral marquetries, the workshop turned towards ombre designs under David Roentgen. The contrasts between the brightly lit and shaded areas became more important to the compositions. This effect was achieved through a juxtaposition of light and dark wood slivers and not through engraved or drawn contours. The designs were probably also based on different motifs, such as the floral engravings of Jacques Bailly.

The motif of a bunch of flowers hanging on a ribbon suspended between rosette-shaped loops is ultimately derived from the works of Jean Bérain the Elder (1640 - 1711), who in turn adapted Renaissance grotesques for the tastes of his time. Many of his artistic followers, such as Jean Baptiste Oudry (1686 - 1755) and Jean Pillement (1728 - 1808), also studied and modified these fanciful compositions. But David Roentgen could no longer present his customers with the same fine rocaille motifs developed under his father and had to seek out more contemporary décor. It was through this search that he was able to convince Januarius Zick to provide motifs for his designs. He also let the employees of his workshop develop their own ideas. His inlaid pieces are among the most important furniture designs of the late 18th century.

Provenance

Acquired from Fischer-Böhler, Munich, on March 31, 1976.
Private collection, Westphalia.

Literature

Cf. Huth, Roentgen, Munich 1974, illus. 238, for a very similar but more robust cabinet in the Landesmuseum in Kassel.