Important Neo-Classical double bureau cabinet with fall-front writing surface and concealed winding mechanism for a lectern, signed "Roentgen Neuwied", Neuwied circa 1790. Veneered mostly in mahogany and pyramid mahogany, also with outstanding marquetry ornament and bands in mother-of-pearl, ebony and brass, set on casters, the lower section with 2 doors and 6 interior drawers, a fall-front writing surface with a later embossed leather lining, and a complex fitted interior with 8 drawers and 6 open compartments. The central section has 2 small doors with lateral mirror and an 8-sided document roundel with 4 rows of drawers and niches and a sunken secret drawer. The folding lid area using weights, tracks and cord pull, serves a writing desk with open compartments veneered in cherry, which comes out automatically, with lateral drawers, sham drawers, ink well and caster. Dimensions ca. 145.5 x 88.5 x 50.5 cm. The back panel and various parts of the mechanism have been altered and replaced in the course of several restorations and the mechanism is in need of overhaul. (PZ)

Lit.: Josef Maria Greber, Abraham und David Roentgen - Möbel für Europa, Starnberg 1980, vol 1 pp. 221,222,270;vol. 2 pp. 287-289, fig. 560-564. Dietrich Fabian Abraham und David Roentgen, Bad Neustadt/Saale 1996, p. 152, No. 348.

Provenance: Private collection, Rhineland, from 1986 until given as loan to the permanent exhibition of the Roentgen museum in Neuwied.