The Metropolitan Museum of Art will exhibit one of the most comprehensive collections of the furniture of Abraham Roentgen and his son David, German cabinetmakers of the 18th century. The Roentgens created dressing tables, clocks and writing desks for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Pope Pius VI, Catherine the Great and other nobles of Europe. They used Caribbean mahogany, cherry or walnut, and decorated their pieces with embedded bits of wood or ivory to create chinoiserie or allegorical scenes. But mostly they were renowned for their use of secret drawers, moving parts and hidden music boxes, sometimes revealed by the push of a button.


The exhibition, “Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens,” was organized by Wolfram Koeppe, the Marina Kellen French curator in the museum’s Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. “They were more than cabinetmakers,” he said of the father-son team. “They were artisans, they were designers, and David, especially, was a business genius.”

He said that the son was a clever marketer of the high-priced luxury pieces. For example, he would work to get introductions to the nobles of France and Germany, and then show them pieces he had created to appeal to their tastes. He made a writing desk for Catherine the Great with a knob in the shape of her favorite dog. “She could not resist it,” Mr. Koeppe said.

The show is on display through Jan. 27. Information: (212) 535-7710 or

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