The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Lac de Lugano (from the Service des vues Suisses)

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) 10702 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
(00:02:17) 16956 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
(00:01:00) 3033 views

Lac de Lugano (from the Service des vues Suisses)

Sèvres Manufactory (French, 1740–present)

Date:: 1811
Culture:: French (Sèvres)
Medium:: Hard paste porcelain
Dimensions:: Diameter: 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm)
Classification:: Ceramics
Credit Line:: Purchase, Friends of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Gifts and The Charles E. Sampson Memorial Fund, 2006
Accession Number:: 2006.189

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 554

Description

All of the plates in this service were decorated with views of Switzerland; this example illustrates the lake of Lugano. The service is notable for the use of transfer printing to establish the outlines of the landscape scenes, which were then painted with polychrome enamels. Transfer printing was seldom used at Sèvres, and it appears that this service was the first in which it was employed for the primary decoration rather than just for more minor decorative motifs.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Marking: 1] Stamped in red on underside: M. Imp. le de Sevres/1811. 2] Stamped in black enamel: IIme Vue Prise Sur Le Lac De Lugano. 3] Two small red 'x's 4] incised letters cc
Provenance

Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, Herzog von Leuchtenberg (purchased from the factory, December 30, 1811) ; [ sale, Galerie Jurg Stuker, Berne , November 17–18, 1992, one of a group of 12 plates (nos. 3242- 3253) ]; Private Collection, England ; [ Michele Beiny Harkins ; sold to MMA ]
See also
Who
Sèvres Manufactory (702)
What
Ceramics (29,326)

Clay (23,658)

Faience (11,696)

Porcelain (11,376)

Dishes (6,713)

Plates (3,606)

Hard paste porcelain (2,916)
Where
Europe (150,013)

France (49,321)

Sèvres (684)
When
A.D. 1800-1900 (80,792)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,264)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Art Nouveau

Sèvres Porcelain in the Nineteenth Century

Empire Style, 1800–1815

Exoticism in the Decorative Arts

Louis–Rémy Robert (1810–1882)

Saint Petersburg

French Furniture in the Eighteenth Century: Case Furniture

Jean–Baptiste Carpeaux (1827–1875)

France, 1800–1900 A.D.

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Unfolding an Eighteenth-Century Gaming Table

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Sèvres Manufactory (French, 1740–present)

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Unfolding an Eighteenth-Century Gaming Table

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Lac de Lugano (from the Service des vues Suisses)

Sèvres Manufactory (French, 1740–present)

Met Media

Met Kids

Met Store