Images(3)

Desk

Maker Adam Weisweiler (French, 1744 - 1820)

Additional Title(s)

Secrétaire en cabinet

ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS

Date1785

Mediumoak and pine or fir carcase veneered with ebony and mahogany; pewter stringing; lacquer plaques; gilt bronze mounts; ivory drawer pulls; silver-gilt bronze writing accessories; glass inkwell; modern leather writing surface; red griotte marble top.

Dimensions51 13/16 x 31 5/8 x 16 7/16 in. (131.6 x 80.3 x 41.8 cm.)

DescriptionThis drop-front secretary (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en armoire) has a fall front which may be lowered to form a writing surface;

SignedWritten inside top drawer in ink: No. 1005 / 3000#. The back of each drawer is inscribed on the back in pencil, respectively from the top: Top; 2 Top; 3 Top; Bottom. Duveen label: 27391.

InscribedOn the back of each drawer in pencil: 'Top V3 top 2nd top Bottom'. Top drawer has a paper Duveen label "27391." In ink on the bottom drawer "1005" and 3000# ("#" is the character used to abbreviate livres--this is a price and how you would annotate it in a price list or inventory. These numbers could be a stock number and price for a marchand-mercier

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The Arabella D. Huntington Memorial Art Collection.

Label TextThe secretaire is not stamped with a maker's name but it can be firmly attributed to Adam Weisweiler. Weisweiler emigrated to Paris from the Rhineland in about 1776. He specialized in finely made pieces and seems to have worked almost exclusively for the fashionable dealer Dominique Daguerre, who supplied the royal family and the aristocracy with furniture. (Label Text)

The secretaire is not stamped with a maker's name but it can be firmly attributed to Weisweiler, as the gilt-bronze mounts and the overall design of the piece resemble closely a number of objects that carry his name.

Weisweiler emigrated to Paris from the Rhineland in about 1776. He specialized in luxurious and finely made furniture and seems to have worked almost exclusively for Dominique Daguerre, a dealer who owned a fashionable shop called "A la Couronne d'Or" on the rue Saint-Honoré. It was certainly Daguerre who supplied Weisweiler with the Japanese lacquer panels; the fashion for mounting furniture with lacquer had begun in the 1730s and it remained popular throughout the rest of the century. Through Daguerre, Weisweiler supplied the royal family and the aristocracy with furniture. Surviving the upheavals of the French revolution, he maintained an active workshop until he retired in about 1809. (Handlist Text)

Status

On view

Object number27.21