The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Armchair (Bergère) (part of a set)

Art Object

Program Information

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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Armchair (Bergère) (part of a set)

Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené (1748–1803)

Maker:: Painted and gilded by Louis-François Chatard (ca. 1749–1819)
Date:: ca. 1788
Culture:: French (Paris)
Medium:: Carved, painted and gilded walnut; modern off-white cotton twill embroidered in silk
Dimensions:: 39 x 27-1/4 x 25-1/4 in. (99.1 x 69.2 x 64.1 cm)
Classification:: Woodwork
Credit Line:: Gift of Ann Payne Blumenthal, 1941
Accession Number:: 41.205.2

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 546

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