Work and writing table

Work and writing table

Bernard II van Risenburgh

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This small work and writing table by Bernard II van Risenburgh is made of oak veneered with tulipwood and end-cut kingwood, and mounted with gilt bronze. The hinged top opens to reveal a partitioned recess divided into three sections. A separate drawer opens on the right side of the table, which contains a narrow compartment with a silvered metal inkwell, a trough for a sponge, and a box for sand to blot up excess ink. Although not nearly as ornate as the Asian-style lacquered corner cabinets produced by van Risenburgh in the museum’s collection (1983.185.2a, b), this piece demonstrates the persistent Rococo aesthetic found throughout the master cabinetmaker’s work, and his care in coordinating asymmetrical gilt-bronze mounts with the serpentine outline of the small table.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.