A large fall-front secretaire, of architectural form, veneered in mahogany on oak, with an ebony-veneered interior, and giltwood and gilt plaster ornaments.

A large fall-front secretaire, of architectural form, flanked by Ionic columns. The secretaire is veneered in finely figured and quartered mahogany on a carcase of oak, the interior within the fall front in solid and veneered ebony and ebonized wood (possibly pearwood), on a carcase of pine. The secretaire is embellished with giltwood and gilt plaster ornaments.
Design
The secretaire is raised on a shallow plinth, with outset sections to either side, providing plinths for the two detached columns. The capitals of these, of the Ionic order, are in giltwood and appear to support a shallow architrave and frieze, surmounted by an over-hanging pediment of triangular form, supported by giltwood modillions (brackets) carved with foliage. Below the architrave, on the front only, is a moulding of gilt gesso, showing egg-and-dart ornament. Above the pediment a stepped, block-shaped attic section is supported on either side by scrolling console brackets, set with cast and gilded ornament on their front faces. The main body of the secretaire shows a shallow, recessed, round-headed arch, running the full height within the columns and continuous over the four lower drawers (including one in the plinth). These are of various heights. A further, shallower drawer is set above the fall front and another, deeper, in the uppermost, attic section of the secretaire.

The carefully chosen, figured mahogany (cut from the junction between the trunk and a large branch of the tree) is quartered and set so that the grain runs continuously over the whole front (drawers included), the central point of the quartering lying at the base of the fall front. The keyhole escutcheons are of bone. The sides of the secretaire are plainly veneered in mahogany and only the gilded modillions supporting the pediment are continued at the sides, with no other gilded decoration. The fall front is supported by a weighted balance mechanism within the secretaire, and drops to reveal a writing surface in green leather with gold tooling. The interior is in the form of a small temple, the central recess with a panel of mirror glass (now broken).

The secretaire is of high quality. The veneer used is mahogany and the gilded wood and gesso elements are finely detailed. The carcase is of oak, of high quality and finely finished. It appears both ebonized wood (pear?) and real ebony have been used in the construction of the temple interior; the ebonized parts now show signs of deterioration while the pieces of ebony have kept their deep black hue. The wood finish on the oak drawer carcases is very smooth and the drawer sides show a fine beading inside. The drawer bottoms slide into the side rails for support, a technique only adopted in Germany in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and the undersides are constructed with central raised square panel sections which allow for easy opening, even when the drawers are filled.

The secretaire contains an unusually large number of secret drawers and compartments; there are five secret drawers, twelve secret compartments, one secret mirror compartment (now largely missing) and two secret flaps hiding two cupboards on top of the secretaire.

There are no obvious signs of machine work on this secretaire, however, the veneer is relatively thin - c. 1mm on the main carcase, some of the beadings being veneered to a thickness of only 0.3-0.5mm. Either this indicates high quality hand-sawing, or it could be an indication that the veneer was cut by one of the new veneer cutting machines.
There is also evidence of an all-over light reddish-brown stain.

Secret Compartents
Notes from the donor
'The cabinet has a number of secret drawers and cupboards and these are to be found as follows:-
Among the ornamentation of the interior are numbers of small gilt studs. Some of these, when pressed, operate springs.
The cupboard on the right-hand side of the desk will open when the middle stud over the right-hand pillar of the 'hall' is pressed. Inside this cupboard are 6 drawers and each of these has a further secret drawer which can be found on the right when the drawer is taken out.
When the stud at the base of of the right-hand black pillar is pressed , a long drawer springs out at the base of the pillar.
The stud on the extreme right releases a drawer at the base of the cupboard referred to already.
The set of cupboards and drawers on the left-hand side of the desk all work in a similar fashion by means of studs also on the left-hand side.
By pressing the stud over the rear back pillar of the 'hall', the glass cupboard at the back of the hall will open.
The black 'steps' of the Hall will open by means of the fifth stud from the right.
When the long drawer over the top of the desk part is taken right out, there will be found springs on the right and left which will open deep recesses in the top of the cabinet.'

Given by F.H. Leonard Esq.

Extract from donor's letter, 6/10/1942:
"The cabinet was made in Germany entirely by the hand of my wife's grandfather when passing out of his apprenticeship as a cabinet-maker, about 125 years ago.." It remained in the family until acquisition by the museum.

This secretaire was given to the Museum in 1942 by F.H. Leonard Esq, New Forest Lodge, 64 Westcombe Park Road, Blackheath (Registered file 42/1159). He died in 1947. His wife, Clara Caroline Julia Louise Leonardt (née Hoeltzer) having pre-deceased him. They had two children, Erica Leonard (later Thorne) and Frederic Charles Leonard. Clara Hoeltzer and Frederick Charles Leonard were married in 1898. Their son was born in 1899, their daughter in 1903. Clara Hoeltzer herself was born in 1871; her parents (Anna Hoeltzer, born c. 1938 in Prussia, and Carl Hoeltzer, born c. 1833 in Saxony Gotha) had moved to England some time before 1871; in 1881 the household, living in Charlton, consisted of the two adults, four children and two domestics (also German). The secretaire was made eithe by Anna Hoeltzer's or Carl Hoeltzer's father. Perhaps it was taken to Englisn by the Hoeltzer's when they emigrated from Prussia sometime before 1971.

The secretaire was displayed at the Bethnal Green Museum shortly after its acquisition but was returned to the V&A in January/February 1987 ahead of building works there (See Registered File 87/73).

Notes on construction
From discussions with Dr Achim Stiegel, Berlin:

The piece is a the 'Meisterstück' or masterpiece of a cabinet-maker's apprentice. Many apprentices chose to build secretaires like this one for their examination prior to being admitted into the guild of master cabinet makers. The idea was that the apprentice would build a commercially desirable piece so that he could recoup his costs and make a profit. The rules for constructing such a masterpiece (and for obtaining the master title) were, among others, that the masterpiece had to be designed by the journeyman, constructed entirely with hand tools, and that it had to be completed within a specified period of time (varying from four weeks to several months. The masterpiece was to be constructed in the house or workshop of the master under which the apprentice had trained, and construction was supervised by an established master (not necessarily the master in whose workshop the piece was constructed). All of the required materials and costs had to be calculated by the prospective master craftsman as well and a perspective construction drawing, normally showing the front and side of the piece, was required for examination before work to construct the piece could start. Once the drawing had been examined and approved, the craftsman could start building his piece. For secretatires, the inset compartment may have been bought ready made by the prospective master craftsman. Contemporaries do not seem to have regarded the inside secretaire compartments as integral with the overall structure and perhaps, indeed, such elements wer always bought in from specialist makers. The masterpiece was to illustrate primarily the craftsman's ability to construct carcases welland to veneer over wooden surfaces.

Dr Achim Stiegel has pointed out that fine seasoned oak was used in the construction of carcases for masterpieces in Berlin.


The form of panelled construction for the base of the drawers was used by both Abraham and David Roentgen in the eighteenth century in their workshop in Neuwied, but it was not until the 1820s that this construction was first used in central Europe. In 1826 a Viennese journeyman obtained a patent for drawers of very similar construction.

The glossy finish, typical of Biedermeier pieces, reflected a current interest in new stains and varnishes. Recipes for these were published in contemporary woodworking journals.

Although the piece is primarily a Biedermeier piece, its stylistic elements are clearly indebted to the earlier Empire style. The use of gilt gesso and the mahogany veneer, as well as the strongly architectural and classically-inspired carcase might be found on an Empire piece. The ebony panels with eagles in gilt metal on the inside of the writing part of the secretaire are also part of the Empire style repertory.
However, the vertical emphasis of the piece and its solid, cubic character - the carcase appearing as if constructed from interconnecting cube shapes - and the concentration of ornament at the front of the secretaire (the sides being very plain), are Biedermeier characteristics.
The gilt enrichments seem to constitute a frame for the flame wood veneer which is cut from one tree. It is matched carefully and is laid over the carcase and drawers in one direction and in continuous flow. This is in keeping with Biedermeier practice.

Further General Reading
Christiani, Franz Josef. Schreibmöbelentwürfe zu Meisterstücken Braunschweiger Tischler aus der 1. Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts.
Waisenhaus-Buchdruckerei und Verlag Braunschweig, 1972, pp.38-43 , ill. plate 73, 74, 75. For construction of masterpieces in Braunschweig (northern middle Germany); illustrations of stylistically similar masterpieces.

Pressler, Rudolf & Straub, Robin. Biedermeier-Möbel.
Battenberg Verlag München, 1986. pp 42-50; illus. plate 97, 111. Notes on regional construction characteristics and differences betwen different regions, also including stylistic differences. Plate 97 shows a very similar secretaire os stepped, temple-like constructions which is attributed to Berlin or the Berlin area; plate 111 depicts a similar secretaire to W.10-1942 made in mahogany and attributed more loosely to northern Germany.

Ottomeyer, Hans & Schlapka, Axel. Biedermeier. Interieurs und Möbel. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag München, 2000. Good general work on the style and furniture contexts, e.g. interiors and other applied arts.

Zinnkann, Heidrun. Mainzer Möbelschreiner der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts.
W. Kramer & Co. Druckerei-Gmbh Frankfurt, 1985, pp. 41-61, ill. 10. Discusses Beidermeier pieces from Mainz (middle.southern Germany) in contrast to pieces from the north. Illustration 10 shows a typical Mainz piece (smaller and less architectural than W.10-1942).

Himmelheber, Georg (transl. Jervis, Simon) Biedermeier Furniture.
Faber and Faber, 1974. An English translation of Himmelheber's good introductory book.

The type of veneer used (mahogany), the monumental architectural character and the decorative recessed panelling covering the front of the secretaire, especially the recessed arch forming part of the fall-front and the sophisticated overall design, are indications that the secretaire is North German, probably from a larger city, the Berlin area or possibly from Berlin itself.

According to the donor, this exceptionally handsome secretaire had been made by his late wife's grandfather when completing his apprenticeship as a cabinet maker 125 years before the gift of the secretaire in 1942. His wife's parents had lived in Prussia before moving to England in 1871, which supports the attribution of this piece to a Berlin workshop. Which of her two grandfathers made the secretaire has not yet been discovered. If the tale of '125 years' is correct, this would date the secretaire to 1817 but it was probably made a little later, about 1830. The workmanship is superb and the piece includes a large number of secret drawers and compartments. Berlin was celebrated for the quality of its cabinet making in the early nineteenth century and this secretaire is typical of the quality of the best pieces made there.

W.10:1to13-1942