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The Roentgens' Dressing Table (Poudreuse)

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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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Sèvres Manufactory  (French, 1740–present)

Decorator:
Nicolas-Antoine Le Bel (active 1804–45)
Artist:
After a print by Claude Nicolas Malapeau (French, Paris 1755–1803 Paris)
Artist:
After an original by Louis François Cassas (French, Azay-le-Ferron 1756–1827 Versailles)
Date:
1814
Culture:
French (Sèvres)
Medium:
Hard-paste porcelain
Dimensions:
Diam. 9 5/8 in. (24.4 cm.)
Classification:
Ceramics
Credit Line:
Purchase, Rogers Fund; Bequests of Annie C. Kane and Emma A. Sheafer, by exchange; and Gifts in memory of John Goldsmith Phillips, 1994
Accession Number:
1994.114

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 554

120024329

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