Search the collections

Videos (3)
The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet

Close

<p>Please enable flash to view this media. <a href="http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/">Download the flash player.</a></p>

Please enable flash to view this media. Download the flash player.

Art Object
Program Information

The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet

Program information

Discover the hidden features and intricate interior of this cabinet.

One of the finest achievements of European furniture making, this cabinet is the most important product from Abraham (1711–1793) and David Roentgen's (1743–1807) workshop. A writing cabinet crowned with a chiming clock, it features finely designed marquetry panels and elaborate mechanisms that allow for doors and drawers to be opened automatically at the touch of a button. Owned by King Frederick William II, the Berlin cabinet is uniquely remarkable for its ornate decoration, mechanical complexity, and sheer size.

This cabinet, from Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, is featured in the exhibition Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens (on view October 30, 2012–January 27, 2013).

Footage courtesy of VideoART GmbH and Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

David Roentgen: Long-Case Clock

David Roentgen: Long-Case Clock
(00:00:52)

The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet

The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
(00:02:20) 10702 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
(00:02:17) 16956 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
(00:01:00) 3033 views

Related Content

Pax: The Risen Christ Appearing to the Apostles

Pax: The Risen Christ Appearing to the Apostles

Perseus with the head of Medusa, and Phineus

Perseus with the head of Medusa, and Phineus

Story from Ovid's Metamorphoses

Story from Ovid's Metamorphoses

The Farnese Table

The Farnese Table

Mars and Venus trapped by Vulcan

Mars and Venus trapped by Vulcan

Browse current and upcoming exhibitions and events.

Exhibitions:

Events:

Events:

Omphale

Manner of Guglielmo della Porta  (Italian, Porlezza, near Lake Lugano ca. 1500–1577 Rome)

Date:
16th century
Culture:
Italian (Rome)
Medium:
Bronze
Dimensions:
No dimensions recorded.
Classification:
Sculpture
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1913
Accession Number:
13.149.5

This artwork is not on display

120007000

Close