The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Harlequin

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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Harlequin

Vienna

Factory director:: Du Paquier period (1718–1744)
Date:: ca. 1740–44
Culture:: Austrian (Vienna)
Medium:: Hard-paste porcelain
Dimensions:: H. 4-13/16 in. (12.2 cm.)
Classification:: Ceramics
Credit Line:: Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
Accession Number:: 64.101.271

This artwork is not on display

120018698