A tray or centrepiece by Abraham Roentgen
Walnut, cherry, plum wood, bloodwood and gilt bronze, brass mountings. Curved tray with handles on either side resting on four gilded bracket feet. The surface inlaid with a rhombus mosaic within a concentric surround of walnut wood and brass stringing. The rounded angles set with engraved brass cartouche motifs. W with handles 54.8, D 83.1 cm.
Neuwied, c. 1750 - 60.
The top of this extremely rare small piece is decorated almost identically to that of the important occasional table from a private collection in Berlin, which is published by both Fabian and Greber. Similar or identical engraved brass cartouches mark the rounded corners, the diamond mosaic is also framed by brass stringing. Presumably both pieces of furniture were produced at the same time.
On 13th November 2020, Lempertz Cologne sold another almost identical, i.e. second, tray as lot 410 in the auction "Abraham & David Roentgen. Fit for a King". The piece differed from the current work only in the types of wood used.
Provenance
In the von Bibra collection until 1980.
Albrecht Neuhaus, Würzburg.
Acquired in 1995, from Swiss-German ownership.
Literature
For the mosaic inlay see Greber, Abraham und David Roentgen. Möbel für Europa, vol. 2, Starnberg 1980, illus. 73 f.
Cf. the marquetry on an occasional table (lost in the war) in the possession of Dr. Huth (in Fabian, Abraham und David Roentgen. Das noch aufgefundene Gesamtwerk ihrer Möbel- und Uhrenkunst in Verbindung mit der Uhrmacherfamilie Kinzing in Neuwied. Leben und Werk, Verzeichnis der Werke, Quellen, Bad Neustadt 1996, no. 4).