{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O59295"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O59295/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HU5353/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HU5353/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2015HU5353","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU5349","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU5351","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU5352","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU5355","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BE7650","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021MU7617","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O59295/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O59295","accessionNumber":"W.22:1,2-1981","objectType":"Secretaire","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"The design of this secretaire is very advanced for the date of 1814 which is inscribed under one drawer. The severe, abstract shape of this piece is related to the monumental forms of the Empire style which dominated design throughout Europe in the first 20 years of the 19th century. However, the oval shape is one of the more fanciful shapes, such as lyres and globes, which were favoured for secretaires in Vienna in the succeeding decade and which became a mark of the emerging Biedermeier style. The carefully matched veneers, the sparse, gilded mounts and the penwork that decorates the interior of the secretaire, were all typical of  Biedermeier design. The dated drawer also carries the signature of the cabinet-maker Franz Steindl. He worked in Budapest from the 1820s, but the shape of the secretaire suggests that Steindl may have learnt his skills in Vienna at least seven years earlier.","physicalDescription":"A fall-front secretaire of oval form, raised on a socle.  Veneered in mahogany on birch(?), with gilt-bronze mounts, the interiors decorated with penwork and mirrors","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Steindl, Frantz","id":"A17652"},"association":{"text":"designer and maker","id":"x34662"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mahogany","id":"AAT12221"},{"text":"composition (material)","id":"AAT237906"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"gilt bronze","id":"x35084"},{"text":"mirror glass","id":"x32916"}],"techniques":[{"text":"cabinet-making","id":"AAT53607"},{"text":"veneering","id":"AAT53878"},{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"},{"text":"silvering","id":"AAT53989"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Mahogany, with gilt-bronze mounts, the interior with a mirror, and with composition and penwork ornament","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[{"text":"Biedermeier","id":"AAT21434"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2015HU5353","2015HU5349","2015HU5351","2015HU5352","2015HU5355","2006BE7650","2021MU7617"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"1","id":"THES263059"},"free":"","case":"PL3","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"FWK3","id":"THES49462"},"free":"","case":"KEYS","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Secretaire","id":""}],[{"text":"keys","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Vienna (city)","id":"x29246"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1814","earliest":"1814-01-01","latest":"1814-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"145","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"81","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"35","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'FRANTZ STEINDL 1814 IM 30TM DECEMBER'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"1814","earliest":"1814-01-01","latest":"1814-12-31"},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"German","medium":"","method":"writing (processes)","position":"signed under a drawer","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"1) Signature","note":"1) Signature; German; signed under a drawer; writing (processes); 1814"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"This form continued to influence design well into the 1830s (see Heidrun Zinnkann, <i>Mainzer Möbel der ersten Hälfte des 19 Jahrhunderts</i>. Frannkfurt, Historisches Museum, 1985, p. 334 for a vitrine with similar form)","briefDescription":"of oval shape, veneered in mahogany, Austrian, Vienna, signed by Frantz Steindl and dated 1814\n\nto Secretaire, 1 old 1 new","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jervis, Simon (intro.), <i>Art and Design in Europe and America 1800-1900</i>, The Herbert Press, 1987, pp. 34-35.\n\nAchim Stiegel, 'Ein Wiener Lyra-Sekretär des Empire' <i>Patrimonia</i>, no. 365 (2013), p. 30 and p. 26, plate 18.\n"}],"production":"A Franz Steindl is known to have worked in Hungary for some time but the shape of this secretaire is Viennese.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Europe and America 1800-1900, room 101\n\nSECRETAIRE IN THE EMPIRE STYLE\nDated 1814\n\nEach European country interpreted the Empire style in its own way.  This secretaire is puzzling.  Its austere, almost abstract form is very advanced for 1814, but typical of the Biedermeier furniture popular in 1820s and 1830s in the Austro-Hungarian empire.  Franz Steindl is recorded in Budapest in the 1820s, but he may have worked in Vienna some years earlier.\n\nAustria, Vienna, or Hungary, Budapest; made by Franz Steindl\nMahogany veneer on a carcase of birch; gilded bronze mounts \nInscribed in German, 'Frantz Steindl 30 December 1814'\n","date":{"text":"05/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-05","latest":"2015-08-05"}},{"text":"SECRETAIRE\r\n\r\nW.22-1981\r\n\r\n'American and European Art and Design 1800-1900' \r\n\r\nSigned under a drawer <font -i>'Franz Steindl 1814 30tm December'</font>. This may refer to Franz Steindl, who later became a leading cabinet-maker in Budapest, and may have been executed when he was serving under Anton Sebastian Vogel. The form of the secretaire is based on an antique lyre. Many variations on this theme were produced in Vienna; this is one of the most radically abstract.","date":{"text":"1987-2006","earliest":"1987-01-01","latest":"2006-12-31"}},{"text":"Europe and America, 1800-1900, room 101\r\n\r\nSECRETAIRE IN THE EMPIRE STYLE\r\n1814\r\n\r\nAustria, Vienna, or Hungary, Budapest; made by Franz Steindl \r\n\r\nMahogany veneer on a carcase of birch; gilded bronze mounts\r\n\r\nInscribed in German, 'Frantz Steindl 30 December 1814'\r\n\r\nMuseum no. W.22-1981\r\n\r\nEach European country interpreted the Empire style in its own way. This secretaire is puzzling. Its austere, almost abstract form is very advanced for 1814 but typical of the Biedermeier furniture popular in 1820s and 1830s in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Franz Steindl is recorded in Budapest in the 1820s, but he may been in Vienna some years earlier.","date":{"text":"2006","earliest":"2006-01-01","latest":"2006-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["W.22:1-1981","W.22:2-1981"],"accessionNumberNum":"22","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1981,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Secretaire","keys"],"assets":["2019LN1903","2019LN4734","2019LN9579","2019LT3067","2019LT1658","2019LT1657","2019LU1737","2019LW1184"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-12","recordCreationDate":"2001-06-01","availableToBook":false}}