The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Inkstand

David Roentgen: Nemours Clock

Program information

Abraham and David Roentgen were renowned German cabinetmakers whose workshop was famed throughout Europe for its exquisite marquetry work and complex mechanical devices. Proportioned for a stately public room or library, this musical clock is likely to have been the first Roentgen object to reach the United States, belonging to Gouverneur Morris, one of the nation’s founding fathers. Not only does it tell time, but it also displays the interior works, which are hidden in most clocks.

This clock, from The Nemours Foundation, is featured in the exhibition Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens (on view October 30, 2012–January 27, 2013).

David Roentgen: Long-Case Clock

David Roentgen: Long-Case Clock
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The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet

The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
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Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
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Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
(00:01:00) 3020 views

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Inkstand

Date:: early 17th century
Culture:: French (Avon)
Medium:: Lead-glazed earthenware
Dimensions:: 6-7/16 x 7 in. (16.4 x 17.8 cm)
Classification:: Ceramics
Credit Line:: Gift of Julia A. Berwind, 1953
Accession Number:: 53.225.40

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 532

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