(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Kitchen Table Kibitzing 3/28/2023: Tricky Furniture [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2023-03-28

There was a fad among wealthy/royal people in the 18th century, especially in Paris, for tricky furniture that had plenty of hidden compartments, pop-up bookcases, and so on. Two German cabinetmakers, David Roentgen (and his father, Abraham) and Jean-François Oeben, became highly sought after for such items, and nowadays, there are many YouTube videos showing off the stealth features of their work.

The Met Museum in New York hosted a big Roentgen exhibit ten years ago, and have a number of short videos showing off the pieces. Let’s start with this huge cabinet from Berlin, owned by King Frederick William II, to give you the general idea. [2:20]

Here’s a little dressing table. You’ll have noticed by now the intricate marquetry that the Roentgens were especially known for. [1:03]

In this video from the Getty Museum, a table by Oeben is put through its paces, and we’re shown the original bright colors of the wood inlays. [2:39]

This companion video shows an animated view of how the piece is constructed, including its clockwork mechanisms. [2:02]

Here are a couple of rolltop desks from Roentgen. [1:26] and [1:00]

Curators at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam show off a couple of pieces by the Roentgens, particularly an elaborate desk the elder Roentgen made for the Archbishop of Trier. [4:10]

Curators at the Louvre, meanwhile, demonstrate an Oeben desk that conceals a crank-up bookcase and a removable lap desk, as well as a prie-dieu upon which one can kneel for prayer. [1:32]

This is a desk found at the Lightner Museum in St, Augustine, Florida. The video is a segment from a PBS show, and we learn that the desk was made for Louis Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother, but not who made it. I personally find the woman doing the interview super-annoying, but the desk itself is so eye-popping, I feel like you have to see it. [4:33]

I have to add this completely unrelated tweet, because this is a really spectacular video of the recent aurora-palooza.

x After 3 long days of processing through 350 Gb of pictures, I am extremely happy to release this reel, which showcases the auroral result of the strongest geomagnetic storm in nearly 6 years over northern Norway 3 nights ago 🤯 pic.twitter.com/gu4eB4eLMn — Night Lights (@NightLights_AM) March 26, 2023

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/3/28/2160606/-Kitchen-Table-Kibitzing-3-28-2023-Tricky-Furniture

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.