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Writing table
Oeben, Simon - Enlarge image
Writing table
- Place of origin:
Paris, France (made)
- Date:
1765-1770 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Oeben, Simon (designer and maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Veneered in marquetry of bois satiné tulipwood and purplewood with additional marquetry of boxwood, ebony and sycamore; mounts of gilt bronze; writing panel of leather
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by John Jones
- Museum number:
1099:1 to 3-1882
- Gallery location:
In Storage
Simon Oeben was the brother of a more famous cabinet-maker, Jean-François Oeben, who was appointed cabinet-maker to the French King, Louis XV, in 1754. The two brothers shared a workshop in the Gobelins manufactory, but two years later Jean-François moved to the Arsenal, to achieve more space for his workshop. Simon Oeben remained where he was, and he in turn was appointed as a royal cabinet-maker. This writing table or bureau plat is decorated with a finely-detailed trellis marquetry of a design that was probably first used in Jean-François Oeben's workshop, but then became widely popular. The Oeben brothers were working in the years when the new, Neo-classical style was becoming dominant, and they modified their work to suit the new fashion. This table shows a top that still has the curving outlines of a Rococo table, but the legs are very strictly Neo-classical, adorned with Roman swags of laurel in gilt bronze.
