Veneered in walnut, rosewood, cherry, plum and maple, Rouge Royal marble top. Adhesive label signed on the back.
The two-drawer body “sans traverse” with lambrequin-like hanging frame on elegantly curved legs, the front and sides are lavishly cambered and inlaid with extremely fine and high-quality flower arrangements tied with bows. The original handle with a wreath of flowers shows a female portrait bust in the medallion.
The fine, light flower inlays, which were developed in the Neuwied workshop under the direction of David Roentgen, corresponded more to the taste of luxury-spoiled buyers in the last third of the 18th century than the splendid decors of the Baroque and Rococo, for which his father Abraham was appreciated by courtly clients. The mostly floral motifs are based on models by Jean Bérains the Elder. (1640-1711), Jean Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755) or Jean Pillement (1728-1808).
The impressive effects of color, three-dimensionality as well as bright and dark contrasts are only created through the use of differently colored woods and only the carpenters of the Roentgen Manufactory have mastered these elaborate veneering techniques to such perfection. A very similar but slightly larger chest of drawers from an order by Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel is kept in the Kassel State Museum.
Height 80 cm, width 78 cm, depth 41 cm.
See Huth, “Abraham und David Roentgen und ihre Neuwieder Möbelwerkstatt”, Munich 1974, fig. 238.