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Filing cabinet (cartonnier) (part of a set)

attributed to Joseph Baumhauer French
ca. 1770
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 526
This filing cabinet is made by the French cabinetmaker Joseph Baumhauer, who also created the matching writing table in the museum’s collection (1979.172.2). Known as cartonniers or serre-papiers, filing cabinets were separate pieces intended to be placed on the table. Decorated on the sides and top with floral marquetry, the cabinet is a trapezoidal structure with a slightly concave front. It rests upon four short tapering cabriole legs mounted with gilt-bronze mounts in the shape of scrolled acanthus leaves. The front two doors are fitted with wire mesh and open up to reveal seven compartments arranged in three tiers. Pierre Verlet has suggested that separate filing cabinets eventually gave way to the fall-front secretary (see for example 1977.1.14), a type of furniture that afforded greater privacy by allowing the user to lock away personal papers from prying eyes.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Filing cabinet (cartonnier) (part of a set)
  • Maker: attributed to Joseph Baumhauer (French, active ca. 1749–72)
  • Date: ca. 1770
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: Oak veneered with tulipwood, purplewood, casuarina wood, kingwood, gilt-bronze mounts
  • Dimensions: H. 27-1/2 x W. 42-1/2 x D. 14 in. (69.8 x 108.0 x 35.6 cm)
  • Classification: Woodwork-Furniture
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 1977
  • Object Number: 1977.177
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Writing table (part of a set), Joseph Baumhauer French, Oak, veneered with tulipwood, purplewood, casuarina wood, and kingwood; gilt-bronze mounts, gilt-tooled leather, French
Writing table (part of a set)
Joseph Baumhauer
ca. 1770
Desk, Joseph Baumhauer French, Oak, tulipwood, gilt bronze, soft-paste porcelain, leather, silk, French, Paris and Sèvres
Desk
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1770
Writing table, Joseph Baumhauer French, Oak veneered with tulipwood, oak drawers; leather; gilt-bronze mounts.
Writing table
Joseph Baumhauer
ca. 1760–65
Drop-front secretary (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en armoire), Guillaume Benneman, Oak veneered with tulipwood, kingwood, holly partly stained green, ebony, and mahogany; brèche d'Alep marble (not original); modern leather; gilt-bronze mounts, French, Paris
Drop-front secretary (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en armoire)
Multiple artists/makers
1786–87
Drop-front secretary (Secrétaire en armoire), Jean Henri Riesener French, Oak veneered with ebony and 17th-century Japanese lacquer; interiors veneered with tulipwood, amaranth, holly, and ebonized holly; gilt-bronze mounts; marble top; velvet (not original), French, Paris
Drop-front secretary (Secrétaire en armoire)
Jean Henri Riesener
1783

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