The formal simplicity of this cabinet provides a backdrop for an extraordinarily complex and subtle marquetry pattern. The body of the piece is raised on four fuseau (spindle-shaped) legs, which give the model its name. The Metropolitan purchased the cabinet directly from Ruhlmann in 1925. It probably was intended to be a sort of man’s dressing table (a vide-poche, or “pocket emptier”), though records in the Ruhlmann archive show that the model could also be adapted for use as a cabinet for liquor or cigars.
