WALNUT ROCOCO COMMODE
Neuwied. Ca. 1755-60. Abraham Roentgen manufactory ascribed

Walnut and walnut grained wood polished and laid in. Rosewood ribbons laid in. Gilt-bronze fittings and brass moulding. Serpentine base frame on claw feet and scalloped cut frieze. Three-sided bomb?case with three-drawer front. Slightly protruding; scalloped serpentine top. 79x100x60cm. Condition B.

Provenance:
Private collection North Germany.

Literature:
- Josef Maria Greber: Abraham und David Roentgen; M鯾el f黵 Europa; Starnberg 1980. For
type cf. ill. 129 - 138.
- Dietrich Fabian: Abraham und David Roentgen; Bad Neustadt/ Saale 1996. For type cf. ill.
156 - 161.
- Wolfram Koeppe: Extravagant Inventions. The princely furniture of the roentgens; New
York 2013. For type cf. p.68.

The present piece of furniture belongs to a furniture group that is very characteristic
for the production of the Roentgen manufactury during the Rococo. The chief features are
the soft; almost flowing shapes in connection with very sculptural-seeming claw feet;
mostly carved from solid walnut wood. Also characteristic for the Roentgen manufactory; is
that most of their furniture is collapsible. Thus; the commode consists of a base frame
and a mounted case. This was due to the fact; that the majority of the furniture
constructed in Neuwied had to be transported over long distances and thusly had to be
packed into transport cases made for this purpose. From an index of the hired craftsmen
from 1779; we know that one master and two assistants in Roentgen's workshop worked
exclusively on the production of transport cases.Art trade; Van Ham.