Room Service @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sometimes I like to wander in and out of the period rooms, so elegant and opulent, so meticulously arranged down to the last detail, and imagine how it would be to live in places like these:  Formal Reception Room from the Hôtel de Tessé at 1, quai Voltaire, Paris.

Room from the Hôtel de Varengeville at 217, boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris.

The Lauzun Room (Hôtel Lauzun at 17, quai d’Anjou, Ile Saint-Louis).

Back Panels of Choir Stalls
From choir stalls made by the cabinetmaker Johan Justus Schacht with the help of twenty-one assistants for the church of the Carthusian monastery in Mainz.
Panels: oak veneered with walnut, boxwood, rosewood, ebony, maple and other woods, ivory, green-stained horn and pewter.
Figures: carved and painted limewood
Mainz, 1723-26 with additions from 1787

Would my dreams be any different under this canopy?

This armoire had me wondering how much more detail could one squeeze on a single piece of furniture: Armoire
Oak veneered with walnut and marquetry woods and set with silvered-bronze mounts
Design by Jean Brandley (active 1855-67)
Woodwork by Charles-Guillaume Diehl (1811-about 1885)
Mounts by Emmanuel Frémiet (1824-1910)
French (Paris), 1867

The central plaque of this ”Merovingian” armoire depicts the victory of the troops of King Merovech over the forces of Attila the Hun in 451. The prototype, a medal cabinet made for the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867, is in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. This armoire was commissioned by the cabinetmaker Diehl for his country house at Lagny.

Secrétaire à abattant
Walnut, parcel-ebonized and inlaid with various woods; mounted with gilt bronze; leather, glass, brass
Austrian, ca. 1815-20, with later additions.

Pair of side chairs
Attributed to Josef Danhauser (1780-1829)
Beech and pine wood, cherry wood veneer and ebonized mahogany; covered in silk not original to chair
Austrian (Vienna), ca. 1815-20

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

May 28th, 2017