The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Pair of candlesticks

Art Object

Program Information

Demonstration of the Roentgens' Dressing Table (Poudreuse)

Program information

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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Pair of candlesticks

Date:: third quarter 16th century
Culture:: Southern German
Medium:: Rock crystal and silver gilt
Dimensions:: H. (each) 13-1/2 in. (34.3 cm); D. (base) 5-3/4 in. (14.6 cm)
Classification:: Natural Substances
Credit Line:: Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913
Accession Number:: 14.40.652, .653

This artwork is not on display

120007346