The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Standing cup with cover

Art Object

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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Standing cup with cover

Date:: mid-17th century, finial 19th–early 20th century
Culture:: French, Paris
Medium:: Agate, silver gilt, gold, enamel, rubies, diamond
Dimensions:: Overall: H. 7 × W. 5 × D. 3 3/8 in. (17.8 × 12.7 × 8.6 cm)
Classification:: Metalwork
Credit Line:: The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931
Accession Number:: 32.100.241a, b

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 532

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Marking: On underside of gold mount of foot, incised: [1] 318 (inventory of French royal collection, 1791); [2] I II III IV (dial fashion)
Provenance

Galerie d'Apollon, The Louvre, Paris, Franceentered French royal collections , Louvre, Paris, mid-1680s (1701, inv. no. 273; 1775, no. 193; 1791, no. 318); Louis XIV, King of France ; Louis XV, King of France ; Louis XVI, King of France ; Pierre van Recoum , on 25 Thermidor, year IV (August 12, 1796) ; Baron Karl Mayer von Rothschild ; his grand-daughter, Princess Jacques de Broglie (until 1911; sale, the Baron Carl Mayer de Rothschild collection , Galerie Georges Petit, June 12–13, 1911, no. 97) ; [ Francis Guérault ] ; [ Arnold Seligmann, Rey and Company, New York ; sold to Friedsam ] ; Michael Friedsam , New York (until 1931; bequeathed to MMA)
See also
What
Metal (59,483)

Metalwork (14,681)

Silver (14,046)

Gold (12,360)

Gilt (9,077)

Drinking vessels (6,031)

Cups (3,858)

Chalcedony (2,957)

Enamel (1,663)

Platinum (914)

Agate (613)

Diamond (314)

Ruby (173)
Where
Europe (150,372)

France (49,614)

Paris (2,005)
When
A.D. 1600-1800 (67,128)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,228)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
France, 1600–1800 A.D.
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