Ref: 2625
Rare Roentgen Casket
Abraham Roentgen
Ref: 2625
Rare Roentgen Casket
Abraham Roentgen
Circa 1755
17 x 25.5 x 17 cm (6³/₄ x 10 inches)
Germany
17 x 25.5 x 17 cm (6³/₄ x 10 inches)
Germany
Description: Abraham Roentgen (1711 - 1793)
Neuwied, circa 1755
Snakewood, rosewood, rosewood, boxwood, brass, and period fabric
On four stepped brass feet. A curved base with a side drawer. A rectangular body with surrounding brass bands and fine ribbon inlays. The front features a cartouche-shaped mount, finely engraved with flowers and foliage, with a concealed keyhole, opened with a push button on the base. Various secret compartments, richly furnished. Several compartments can be opened with brass buttons. The top is finished with a tapered lid with a handle.
Neuwied, circa 1755
Snakewood, rosewood, rosewood, boxwood, brass, and period fabric
On four stepped brass feet. A curved base with a side drawer. A rectangular body with surrounding brass bands and fine ribbon inlays. The front features a cartouche-shaped mount, finely engraved with flowers and foliage, with a concealed keyhole, opened with a push button on the base. Various secret compartments, richly furnished. Several compartments can be opened with brass buttons. The top is finished with a tapered lid with a handle.
Abraham Roentgen
Abraham Roentgen (1711–1793) was a German ébéniste whose Neuwied workshop became one of the most admired furniture enterprises of eighteenth-century Europe. Born in Mülheim am Rhein, he trained with his father, then worked in the Netherlands and London before joining the Moravian community near Neuwied, where he established his manufactory. Roentgen’s furniture combined disciplined construction with luxurious surfaces: fine veneers, marquetry, exotic woods, ormolu mounts and ingenious mechanical fittings. His desks, cabinets, tables and writing furniture often concealed drawers, compartments and moving parts, turning craftsmanship into a form of controlled theatre. Working first in Rococo and later increasingly neoclassical taste, he supplied aristocratic and princely clients while training his son David Roentgen, who expanded the firm’s international fame. Abraham’s achievement lies in uniting German precision, cosmopolitan design and technical invention, making furniture both useful object and virtuoso performance.
Rare Roentgen Casket