The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Art Object

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.

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James Ker

Date:: 1727–28
Culture:: Scottish (Edinburgh)
Medium:: Silver
Dimensions:: H. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm)
Classification:: Metalwork
Credit Line:: Purchase, Gift of Irwin Untermyer, by exchange, 1983
Accession Number:: 1983.224

This artwork is not on display

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription: (In script): AS; "BREADALBANE" (both on underside of foot ring)

Marking: [1] EP in shaped punch (mark of assay master Edward Penman); [2] X in square (date letter for 1727-28); [3] IK in shaped punch; [4] another; partial strike (three-towered castle, Edinburgh town mark) Location of marks: [1]-[4] on underside of body, inside foot ring.
Provenance

Marquess of Breadalbane ; Major Ian Shaw of Tordarroch, M.B.A. (until 1983; sale, Christie's and Edminston's, Glasgow, March 29 , 1983, no. 87)
See also
Who
James Ker (1)
What
Metal (59,364)

Vessels (21,921)

Metalwork (14,716)

Silver (14,056)

Jugs (1,683)

Milk jugs (75)
Where
Europe (148,587)

United Kingdom (25,557)

Scottish (1,835)

Edinburgh (22)
When
A.D. 1600-1800 (66,179)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,257)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Great Britain and Ireland, 1600–1800 A.D.

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The Roentgens' Dressing Table (Poudreuse)

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