The Metropolitan Museum of Art - The Age of Bronze (L'Age d'airain)

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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Browse current and upcoming exhibitions and events.

CANCELED: Exhibition Tour—Plain or Fancy?: Restraint and Exuberance in the Decorative Arts
June 20, 2013
Gallery Talk and Demonstration—Roentgen Furniture
July 12, 2013
Summer Sketching—European Sculpture (Ages 11–18)
July 24, 2013
Exhibition Tour—Plain or Fancy?: Restraint and Exuberance in the Decorative Arts
July 25, 2013
Conversation with a Curator and a Conservator—The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
August 2, 2013
Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution
August 6, 2013

The Age of Bronze (L'Age d'airain)

Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon)

Founder:: Cast by Alexis Rudier
Date:: 19th century, executed in reduced size from the model made in 1876
Culture:: French
Medium:: Bronze
Dimensions:: H. 41 in. (104.1 cm.); W. 14 1/2 in. (36.8 cm.); D. 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm.)
Classification:: Sculpture
Credit Line:: Bequest of Susan Vanderpoel Clark, 1967
Accession Number:: 67.155.11

This artwork is not on display

120020498