Milieu de table
A rare table centrepiece by David Roentgen
Mahogany veneer on solid mahogany, fire-gilt brass / bronze. Oval tray resting on six small bun feet, to be used as a stand for table decor or dishes. With a raised beaded bronze surround. Stamped on the underside "D.ROENTGEN". H 4.5, W 53, D 38 cm.
Neuwied or Paris, around 1780 - 85.
In the spring of 1779, David Roentgen received the title "Mécanicien privilégié du Roi et de la Reine" from the French King Louis XVI. A few months later he moved into a property in Paris and hired Johann Gottlieb Frost (1751 - 1814) as his manager. In May 1780 David Roentgen bought the master's right of the Parisian cabinetmakers' guild and was then allowed to offer his own products on the Parisian market, all of which are thought to have been stamped with his own name. However, he was not allowed to use the JME stamp, which was introduced in 1741 by the Jurande des Maîtres Menuisiers Ebénistes and was stamped next to the producer's name.
He called his shop in the Rue de Grenelle "A la ville de Neuwied". Pierre Kjellberg published an advertisement by Roentgen dated 8th January 1781, in which he offered various desks, office chairs, dressing tables, mechanical caskets, pianoforte and console tables with many different marquetries. In December 1785, Jean Gottlieb Frost, who had meanwhile established roots in Paris, took over the business, but had to declare bankruptcy a few years later, after the revolution of 1789.
Literature
For more on this stamp see Greber, Abraham und David Roentgen. Möbel für Europa, vol. 1, Starnberg 1980, p. 270.
Cf. also Kjellberg, Le mobilier français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris 2008, p. 757 ff.