{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O118367"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O118367/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM1523/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM1523/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM1523","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB1071","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB1070","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB1069","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB1010","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB0945","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB0944","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AK6586","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM1522","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9123","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9124","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9125","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9126","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9127","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9128","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9129","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9130","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9131","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9132","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9133","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9134","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9135","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FR9136","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O118367/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O118367","accessionNumber":"1099:1 to 3-1882","objectType":"Writing table","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Simon Oeben was the brother of a more famous cabinet-maker, Jean-François Oeben, who was appointed cabinet-maker to the French King, Louis XV, in 1754.  The two brothers shared a workshop in the Gobelins manufactory, but two years later Jean-François moved to the Arsenal, to achieve more space for his workshop.  Simon Oeben remained where he was, and he in turn was appointed as a royal cabinet-maker.  This writing table or <i>bureau plat</i> is decorated with a finely-detailed trellis marquetry of a design that was probably first used in Jean-François Oeben's workshop, but then became widely popular. The Oeben brothers were working in the years when the new, Neo-classical style was becoming dominant, and they modified their work to suit the new fashion.  This table shows a top that still has the curving outlines of a Rococo table, but the legs are very strictly Neo-classical, adorned with Roman swags of laurel in gilt bronze.","physicalDescription":"Writing table (bureau plat) with a shaped top veneered with geometrical marquetry in various woods in a diaper inlay. Drop handles and pendants of leaves in chased ormolu. The two ends of the top surface slide outwards when unlocked to reveal large compartments within. A central drawer sits beneath the top. The table supported on four straight tapering legs.  Stamped twice with the name 'S OEBEN'    ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Oeben, Simon","id":"A17700"},"association":{"text":"designer and maker","id":"x34662"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oak","id":"AAT12264"},{"text":"tulipwood","id":"AAT12469"},{"text":"purplewood","id":"AAT12419"},{"text":"ebony","id":"AAT12055"},{"text":"boxwood","id":"AAT12002"},{"text":"sycamore","id":"AAT12357"},{"text":"leather","id":"AAT11845"},{"text":"gilt bronze","id":"x35084"},{"text":"bois satiné","id":"x38816"}],"techniques":[{"text":"cabinet-making","id":"AAT53607"},{"text":"veneering","id":"AAT53878"},{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"},{"text":"chasing","id":"AAT54016"},{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Veneered in marquetry of bois satiné tulipwood and purplewood with additional marquetry of  boxwood, ebony and sycamore; mounts of gilt bronze; writing panel of leather","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[{"text":"Neo-classicism","id":"x38958"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006AM1523","2010EB1071","2010EB1070","2010EB1069","2010EB1010","2010EB0945","2010EB0944","2006AK6586","2006AM1522","2012FR9123","2012FR9124","2012FR9125","2012FR9126","2012FR9127","2012FR9128","2012FR9129","2012FR9130","2012FR9131","2012FR9132","2012FR9133","2012FR9134","2012FR9135","2012FR9136"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES302808"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES342919"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES342919"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Keys","id":""}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":""}],[{"text":"writing table","id":"AAT39436"}],[{"text":"bureau plat","id":"AAT39451"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1765-1770","earliest":"1765-01-01","latest":"1770-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by John Jones","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"74.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"125.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"61","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measurements taken from Carolyn Sargentson's catalogue notes","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'S.[at centre height] OEBEN'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Stamped twice underneath the front rail"}],"objectHistory":"In the collection of John Jones before 1882","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Writing table (<i>bureau plat</i>), French, 1765-70","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Eriksen, Svend. <u>Early Neo-Classicism in France</u>. London: Faber & Faber, 1974, 432 pp, ill. ISBN 0 571 08717 5, p. 329,  pl. 144"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"trellis","id":"AAT6785"},{"text":"laurel swags","id":"x38378"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"[Label text by Peter Thornton]\r\n\r\nWriting table (bureau plât)\r\nFrench (Paris); about 1774\r\nStamped 'S.Oeben'\r\n\r\nVeneered with geometrical marquetry of various woods.  Gilt bronze mounts. The two ends of the top surface slide outwards, when unlocked, to reveal large compartments within.\r\n\r\nSimon Oeben was a brother of the more famous Jean-François Oeben.  He became a master cabinet-maker in 1764 and enjoyed the patronage of the duc de Choiseul.  The legs on this piece closely resemble those on a desk provided by Riesener in 1774 for the comte de Provence, now at Waddesdon Manor. Riesener had married Jean-François' widow in 1767 so he would have had close connections with Simon Oeben.\r\n\r\nJones Collection\r\nMuseum No. 1099-1882","date":{"text":"1980","earliest":"1980-01-01","latest":"1980-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["1099:3-1882","1099:2-1882","1099:1-1882"],"accessionNumberNum":"1099","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1882,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Keys","Drawer","writing table"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-13","recordCreationDate":"2005-11-09","availableToBook":true}}