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Lot Essay
This superb roll-top desk shows David Roentgen at the height of his powers and at a supremely confident and crucial phase in his career. The elegant, harmonious form, a forceful interpretation of French Louis XVI models, serves as the perfect vehicle for the display of the splendid marquetry for which this cabinet-maker was celebrated. Restrained but beautifully executed mounts, probably supplied by the Parisian maître-doreur François Rémond (1747-1812), underline the international standing of this magnificent piece, a demonstration of European ébénisterie at the highest possible level. Interestingly, a large proportion of the very few pieces of furniture signed by David Roentgen fall precisely within this phase of his activity. On the present desk, his initials 'DR' are just about legible, half covered by the key hole of the central drawer.
ROENTGEN'S CAREER IN THE 1770S
After taking full command in 1772 of the Neuwied cabinet-making shop, set up by his father Abraham (1711-1793) in the 1740s, David Roentgen concentrated on expanding his business and conquering Europe in an unprecedented campaign no other 18th century furniture-maker could ever match. 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 spurned 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', The Burlington Magazine 147 (2005), pp. 95-96, figs. 22-24). In 1774 Roentgen visited Paris to get acquainted with the latest developments in the European capital of taste and fashion. It may have been Charles of Lorraine who procured 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; 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 developed this new technique in the late 1760s, and he first mentions it in describing a bureau that was offered as the first prize in a lottery of the firm's furniture organized in Hamburg in 1768:
... auf das künstlichste, mit Chinuesischen Figuren, a la Mosaique eingelegt ... Das allerwunderbar- und seltsamste hiebey aber ist, dass alle Figuren von lauter Hölzern gemacht, und zwar von solchen zusammengesucht- und choisierten Hölzern, dass dieselben eine vollkommene Mahlerey präsentieren... (Huth, op. cit., 1974, fig. 3a).
Interestingly, this experimental piece was already decorated with chinoiserie scenes and a slightly later bureau of c. 1771-1772, 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 (G.Himmelheber, 'Roentgen-Möbel für Baden', in: Ausgewählte Werke aus den Sammlungen der Markgrafen und Grossherzöge von Baden, Patrimonia (Kulturstiftung der Länder) 116, Karlsruhe 1996, pp. 95-113, figs. 1-8). They appear mainly to have been derived from engravings by the French artist Jean Pillement (1728-1803). After 1775, the chinoiserie scenes become more precise and gain a recognizably neo-classical equilibrium, as demonstrated on the present desk.
The composition on the roll-top of this piece already occurs on a number of desks of an earlier form, with cabriole legs, one of which was delivered to the Elector of Bavaria and another to the Elector of Saxony; there, however, the drawing is still more playful (Fabian, 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 desk sold to Marie Antoinette in 1779, and they are nearly all repeated on a very closely related roll-top desk in the Metropolitan Museum in New York which bears the monogram 'DR' (Fabian, 1996, no. 230). A further chinoiserie roll-top desk, with a 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). Roentgen also employed the central scene of the lady with a parasol on the tops of rectangular and oval tables, such as an example signed with the initial 'R' at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (R. Baarsen, German furniture, Rijksmuseum 1998, no. 14).
MOUNTS FROM PARIS
Immediately during his first visit to Paris in 1774, Roentgen must have been struck by the jewellike 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 handles found on the present desk and on many other pieces of furniture by Roentgen (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 also made a series of roll-top desks of this model decorated with marquetry of floral swags, which includes the bureau that was sold by the trustees of the Longleat Chattels Settlement at Christie's London, 13 June 2002, lot 400.
ROENTGEN'S CAREER IN THE 1770S
After taking full command in 1772 of the Neuwied cabinet-making shop, set up by his father Abraham (1711-1793) in the 1740s, David Roentgen concentrated on expanding his business and conquering Europe in an unprecedented campaign no other 18th century furniture-maker could ever match. 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 spurned 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', The Burlington Magazine 147 (2005), pp. 95-96, figs. 22-24). In 1774 Roentgen visited Paris to get acquainted with the latest developments in the European capital of taste and fashion. It may have been Charles of Lorraine who procured 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; 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 developed this new technique in the late 1760s, and he first mentions it in describing a bureau that was offered as the first prize in a lottery of the firm's furniture organized in Hamburg in 1768:
... auf das künstlichste, mit Chinuesischen Figuren, a la Mosaique eingelegt ... Das allerwunderbar- und seltsamste hiebey aber ist, dass alle Figuren von lauter Hölzern gemacht, und zwar von solchen zusammengesucht- und choisierten Hölzern, dass dieselben eine vollkommene Mahlerey präsentieren... (Huth, op. cit., 1974, fig. 3a).
Interestingly, this experimental piece was already decorated with chinoiserie scenes and a slightly later bureau of c. 1771-1772, 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 (G.Himmelheber, 'Roentgen-Möbel für Baden', in: Ausgewählte Werke aus den Sammlungen der Markgrafen und Grossherzöge von Baden, Patrimonia (Kulturstiftung der Länder) 116, Karlsruhe 1996, pp. 95-113, figs. 1-8). They appear mainly to have been derived from engravings by the French artist Jean Pillement (1728-1803). After 1775, the chinoiserie scenes become more precise and gain a recognizably neo-classical equilibrium, as demonstrated on the present desk.
The composition on the roll-top of this piece already occurs on a number of desks of an earlier form, with cabriole legs, one of which was delivered to the Elector of Bavaria and another to the Elector of Saxony; there, however, the drawing is still more playful (Fabian, 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 desk sold to Marie Antoinette in 1779, and they are nearly all repeated on a very closely related roll-top desk in the Metropolitan Museum in New York which bears the monogram 'DR' (Fabian, 1996, no. 230). A further chinoiserie roll-top desk, with a 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). Roentgen also employed the central scene of the lady with a parasol on the tops of rectangular and oval tables, such as an example signed with the initial 'R' at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (R. Baarsen, German furniture, Rijksmuseum 1998, no. 14).
MOUNTS FROM PARIS
Immediately during his first visit to Paris in 1774, Roentgen must have been struck by the jewellike 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 handles found on the present desk and on many other pieces of furniture by Roentgen (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 also made a series of roll-top desks of this model decorated with marquetry of floral swags, which includes the bureau that was sold by the trustees of the Longleat Chattels Settlement at Christie's London, 13 June 2002, lot 400.