The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Boîte à savonette

Art Object

Demonstration of 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.

Video/Audio (4)

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Boîte à savonette

Manufacture Royale

Factory director:: André Philippe
Date:: ca. 1770–80
Culture:: French (Montpellier)
Medium:: Faience (tin-enameled earthenware)
Dimensions:: H. 4 in. (10.2 cm)
Classification:: Ceramics
Credit Line:: Gift of R. Thornton Wilson, in memory of Florence Ellsworth Wilson, 1950
Accession Number:: 50.211.58 ab

This artwork is not on display

Provenance

Charles Perrot (until 1923; Charles Perrot collection sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, March 20–22, 1923, no. 36); Gaymard de Marseilles (after 1923–before 1933) ; Tumin (by 1933–36; Tumin collection sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 11, 1936, no. 10, Pl. XII); [ Gaston Bensimon (sold to Wilson) ] ; R. Thornton Wilson (until 1950; to MMA)
See also
Who
André Philippe (1)

Manufacture Royale (1)
What
Ceramics (29,327)

Pottery (12,857)

Faience (11,693)

Earthenware (6,693)

Boxes (1,779)

Soap boxes (3)
Where
Europe (150,115)

France (49,363)

Languedoc-Roussillon (26)

Montpellier (17)
When
A.D. 1600-1800 (66,675)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,264)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
France, 1600–1800 A.D.

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Demonstration of the Roentgens' Dressing Table (Poudreuse)

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Boîte à savonette

Manufacture Royale

Met Media

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