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Friday, September 26, 2014
Friday Video: An Extravagant Cabinet with Many Secrets, c.1790
Friday, September 26, 2014
Isabella reporting,
Lately the world has been all a-buzz about the newest iPhone, but innovative technology is nothing new. The late 18th c. cabinet in this video clip combines ingenious mechanisms to reveal hidden drawers and secret cubbies plus musical fanfares, and disguises it all inside a breathtakingly beautiful piece of cabinetry.
Here's the description:
One of the finest achievements of European furniture making, this cabinet is the most important produced from Abraham (1711-1793) and David Roentgen's (1743-1807) workshop. A writing cabinet crowned with a chiming clock, it features finely designed marquetry panels and elaborate mechanisms that allow for doors and drawers to be opened automatically at the touch of a button. Owned by King Frederick William II, the Berlin cabinet is uniquely remarkable for its ornate decoration, mechanical complexity, and sheer size. This cabinet is from Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
As is the case with the wonderful clockwork automatons from the same era (such as this, this, and this), I'm amazed by not only the skill and artistry that created these pieces, but also that they have survived. I also wonder how all the buttons and triggers were discovered. Could there still be one more secret hidden somewhere inside?
Many thanks to our good friend Chris Woodyard for spotting this video first.
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6 comments:
It's everything I have always imagined the cabinet to be, that Diana had made for Stephen Maturin...
I want this.
Wow. Amazing work. Thank you for posting this. Shared.
Did anyone notice the three balls on the key that opens one of the upper sections? There's a close-up shot that flashes by, but long enough to see three balls. I am thinking of pawn shop signs, with their three balls. Or would the balls perhaps have made reference to the nobleman's coat of arms? Just wondering....
Stunning.
Probability of forgetting something you'd put in there: 100%.
Imagine being a child allowed to try to find all the compartments in Daddy's desk. Or maybe, a child who finds an unknown compartment and hides something in there. Hmm. Possibilities here.
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