Courtly pen cabinet - Dresden, around 1750 - Workshop Michael Kimmel (1715-1794)
Dresden, around 1750
Workshop Michael Kimmel (1715-1794).
Kimmel worked after his apprenticeship in Zittau for six years at the Imperial Court in Vienna. In Dresden he was for the court carpenter Peter Hesse and Johann Petany. Hesse always emphasized the exceptional quality of his work and his knowledge of both English and French cabinetmaking, and so Kimmel was hired as a royal cabinet maker in 1751.
A Kimmel writing cabinet from the former collection of Baron Mayer de Rothschild, decorated all over with fittings and mother-of-pearl inlays but identical in basic form, is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum (inv. no. W.63-1977).
Behind the doors of the attachment there are numerous Compartments and drawers for storing letters, Documents and writing utensils. The refinement of the hiding places reveals the masterly Handwriting of the courtebenist Michael Kimmel.
Walnut and walnut burl veneered with band inlays and profile edges in olive and elm, which are Drawers in alder. Chased and gold-plated Brass fittings.
Height 235 cm, width 130 cm, depth 70 cm.
Cf. Haase, G., Dresden furniture of the 18th century, Leipzig 1983, Cat. No. 95.