Search the collections

Videos (3)
The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet

Close

<p>Please enable flash to view this media. <a href="http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/">Download the flash player.</a></p>

Please enable flash to view this media. Download the flash player.

Art Object
Program Information

The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet

Program information

Discover the hidden features and intricate interior of this cabinet.

One of the finest achievements of European furniture making, this cabinet is the most important product from Abraham (1711–1793) and David Roentgen's (1743–1807) workshop. A writing cabinet crowned with a chiming clock, it features finely designed marquetry panels and elaborate mechanisms that allow for doors and drawers to be opened automatically at the touch of a button. Owned by King Frederick William II, the Berlin cabinet is uniquely remarkable for its ornate decoration, mechanical complexity, and sheer size.

This cabinet, from Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, is featured in the exhibition Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens (on view October 30, 2012–January 27, 2013).

Footage courtesy of VideoART GmbH and Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

David Roentgen: Long-Case Clock

David Roentgen: Long-Case Clock
(00:00:52)

The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet

The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
(00:02:20) 10613 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
(00:02:17) 16640 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
(00:01:00) 3015 views

Related Content

Picture frame

Picture frame

Picture frame with signed photograph

Picture frame with signed photograph

Picture frame

Picture frame

Picture frame

Picture frame

Picture frame

Picture frame

Browse current and upcoming exhibitions and events.

Exhibitions:

Events:

Events:

Group of 24 picture frames, several with period photographs of Russian nobility

House of Carl Fabergé 

Maker:
Workmaster: Eight different workmasters associated with the House of Fabergé
Date:
1896–1917
Culture:
Russian (St. Petersburg and Moskow)
Medium:
Various woods, silver, silver gilt, gold, enamel, nephrite, ivory, bowenite; photographs
Classification:
Metalwork
Credit Line:
Gift of Louise and David Braver, 2008
Accession Number:
2008.652.1–.24

This artwork is not on display

120056846

Close