The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Art Object

Unfolding an Eighteenth-Century Gaming Table

This finely crafted piece of furniture has a secret. Swing out a leg, adjust an arm, and voilà! Leaves unfold to reveal multiple configurations: a felt surface for card games, a game board for chess or checkers, a desk with a leather writing surface and book rest. Tug at a hidden latch, and a spring-driven backgammon board pops up.

The brainchild of German cabinetmaker David Roentgen (1743–1807), this sophisticated gaming table once graced the intimate interior of an aristocratic European home. The exquisite piece was not only convenient for entertaining guests, but it was also portable—its legs unscrew so it can easily be packed and moved.

This 3-D animation of the table demonstrates its different configurations and illuminates its concealed features, including drawers for tucking away personal items and compartments for storing game pieces.

See Collections to learn more about this table.

This table 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
(00:00:52)

The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
(00:02:20) 10549 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
(00:02:17) 16461 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
(00:01:00) 3008 views

Plate

Date:: 1739–43
Culture:: Chinese
Medium:: Hard-paste porcelain
Dimensions:: Diam. 9 in. (22.9 cm.)
Classification:: Ceramics
Credit Line:: Helena Woolworth McCann Collection, Purchase, Winfield Foundation Gift, by exchange, 1978
Accession Number:: 1978.196

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 510

Description

This plate is distinguished by the lavishness of its enamel painting, and by the fact that a design for the plate's decoration survives, the only recorded instance for an armorial service.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription: MLO (cipher)
Provenance

Sir Ian Walker-Okeover ; Helena Woolworth McCann
See also
What
Ceramics (29,320)

Clay (23,649)

Faience (11,698)

Porcelain (11,369)

Dishes (6,707)

Plates (3,598)

Hard paste porcelain (2,917)
Where
Asia (68,071)

China (17,417)
When
A.D. 1600-1800 (66,179)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,257)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Central and North Asia, 1600–1800 A.D.

China, 1600–1800 A.D.