A ROYAL GERMAN PARCEL-GILT AND POLYCHROME-DECORATED MAHOGANY SECRETAIRE-A-ABATTANT

The wax seal found of the back of this elegant secretaire with the cypher 'FWR' is almost certainly that of either Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia (1744-1897) or that of his eldest son Friedrich Wilhelm III (1770-1840). The addition of 'BERLIN' within that seal probably further identifies it as a mark applied during an inventory, possibly of the royal apartments at the Stadtschloss Berlin.

The secretaire with its striking painted panels is typical of the oeuvre of the Brunswick entrepreneur and lacquer-ware producer Johann Heinrich Stobwasser (1740-1829), who was celebrated for refining the skills and techniques of 'japanning'. Supported by the Duke of Brunswick the output of his workshops in Berlin and Brunswick flourished and by 1796 Stobwasser employed about 80 craftsmen.

A closely related commode, with comparable oval medallions, is in the Staedtisches Museum in Brunswick, while a pair of demi-lune side-cabinets with closely-related decoration, now in the Wittumspalais in Weimar, are recorded as having been given by Duchess Philippine Charlotte of Brunswick to her daughter Augusta Dorothea (1749-1810). Both are illustrated in D. Richter, Stobwasser, Lackkunst aus Braunschweig & Berlin, vol. I, Muenster 2005, pp. 176-177, cat, 13 and 14.