The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Art Object

Demonstration of the Roentgens' Dressing Table (Poudreuse)

See how this desk converts into a dressing table.

When closed, this table may not seem like one of the most complex pieces of European furniture ever made. However, once opened, its concealed drawers and hidden features are exposed, and the entire piece transforms into a dressing table, orpoudreuse. Scholars believe it was commissioned as a wedding gift from Abraham (1711–1793) and David Roentgen (1743–1807) by Friedrich August III, Elector of Saxony, to his bride in 1769.

This table, from Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, is featured in the exhibition Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens (on view October 30, 2012–January 27, 2013).

Images courtesy of Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt.

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Tankard

Johann Berend (master 1696, died 1704)

Date:: ca. 1770
Culture:: Livonian (Riga)
Medium:: Silver, partly gilt
Dimensions:: 9 1/2 x 9 15/16 in. (24.1 x 25.2 cm); Diam. 7 3/8 in. (18.7 cm)
Classification:: Metalwork
Credit Line:: The Collection of Giovanni P. Morosini, presented by his daughter Giulia, 1932
Accession Number:: 32.75.84

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 551

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription: Friedrich Wesselinck Vrsula Von Vreisbergen / Anno 1669 (engraved on the side of the tankard around the coats of arms): owners' names and date.

Marking: [1] Crossed keys within a shield (town mark of Riga in use in the eighteenth century.) See Annelore Leistikow, Baltisches Silber, Lüneberg, 1996, p. 309. [2] Roman capitals I B flanking a tree and within a shaped shield (maker's mark of Johann Berend [Berends, Berendts, Behrens, etc.] w. 1696-1704). See Leistikow, p. 309. Location of marks: [1]-[2] On the exterior of the bottom.
Provenance

Giovanni Pertinax Morosini
See also
Who
Johann Berend (1)
What
Metal (59,497)

Metalwork (14,681)

Silver (14,047)

Gilt (9,077)

Drinking vessels (6,031)

Tankards (307)
Where
Europe (150,419)

Latvia (11)

Rīga (2)
When
A.D. 1600-1800 (67,116)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,228)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, 1600–1800 A.D.
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Demonstration of the Roentgens' Dressing Table (Poudreuse)

Tankard

Johann Berend (master 1696, died 1704)

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Demonstration of the Roentgens' Dressing Table (Poudreuse)

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Tankard

Johann Berend (master 1696, died 1704)

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