Inlaid with fine grain birch wood, walnut, maple and plum colored in red and green, with original gold-plated fittings.
In terms of structure and decoration, the writing furniture corresponds to a group of comparable high-quality chests of drawers and cabinets summarized under the technical term "Erfurt furniture”. The inlays with two large, gallant shepherd scenes in landscapes with ruined architecture are framed by extremely fine rococo ornaments painted in black solder. If copper engravings were applied to the furniture in the Arte Povera manner - mainly in the case of Italian furniture - this secretary was decorated with a combination of inlay and artistic painting.
The necessary work steps were carried out by specialized artisans. This representative piece of furniture could only be manufactured to such perfection with the interaction of marketeer and painter. A counterpart of comparable quality from the possession of the princes and counts of Schönburg is kept in the castle museum in Glauchau. This secretary is shown at Kreisel / Himmelheber.
Height 200 cm, width 131 cm, depth 70 cm.
Kreisel, “Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels“, Munich 1973, vol. 2, fig. 904 as „Erfurt writing cupboard“.
Voigt, “Möbel aus schönburgischen Schlössern“, Glauchau 2003, p. 55-69.
