An Important Saxon Rococo Gilt-Bronze Mounted and Brass Inlaid Rosewood and Walnut Parquetry Cabinet, attributed to Johann Gottfried Leuchte and possibly Michael Kimmel, Dresden Circa 1745-50

Probably art dealer, Karl Haberstock, Berlin 1939. 

For an illustration of most probably this cabinet see:

Rudolph von Arps-Aubert, Sächsische Barockmöbel 1700-1770, Berlin 1939, p.67

Related Literature:

Gisela Haase, 'Dresdener Möbel -Kimmel oder Leuchte?', Antiquitäten Zeitung, 30th year, No.1, 2002, pp.12-13, ill.2.

Gisela Haase, "Dresdener Möbel des 18.Jahrhunderts", Leipzig 1986 ill.111,112 pp.300, 301.

Heinrich Kreissel, "Die Kunst des deutschen Mobel, zweiter Band Spätbarock and Rokoko" Munich, 1970 p. 259 and ill. 835 for the Moritzburg bureau cabinet, signed by Johann Gottfried Leuchte, 1744/46.

An almost identical Aufsatzschrank by Johann Gottfried Leuchte? now lined with embroidered silk panels is located in the Historisches Museum, Basel, (Acc. No. 1974.133).

Both the present cabinet and the cabinet located in Basel are almost identical to the Royal pair, formerly in the Arbeitszimmer of the Dresden Residenzschloss, see attached image. Therefore likely the present cabinet could also have been a Royal commission, or commissioned by a member of the aristocracy who wanted their own version.

The present cabinet is notable for the brass facing on the front edges and inlays. These elements, which serve to articulate the structure, are a particular feature of the most outstanding pieces of Dresden furniture at this time. The city cabinetmaker Johann Gottfried Leuchte (d.1759), used brass mounts to bring out the structure of this type of cabinets and in 1751 the Electoral-Royal cabinet-maker Michael Kimmel or Kümmel (1715-1794) is recorded as having received special praise at court for this kind of ornamentation.

The brass-inlay and brass moldings on the present cabinet can be seen on several other cabinets, like for example the Moritzburg bureau cabinet, signed by Johann Friedrich Leuchte, discussed by and illustrated in Kreissel and the one from the collections of the 6th Earl of Rosebery at Mentmore, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, which has been attributed to Michael Kimmel (1714-1794), illustrated in C. Wilk, op. cit., pp. 98-99. Dresden cabinet-Making in the 18th century:

It is interesting to note that belt-makers or locksmiths were usually responsible for making mounts although their names rarely appear on invoices and furniture inventories. The court cabinet-makers Peter Hoese (1686-1761) and Johann Christoph Schwartz (d.1757) are known to have used mounts made by the court locksmith Dietrich Gertz for their furniture in 1727 and the cabinet-maker Michael Kimmel obtained his mounts from the belt-maker Mehlgart. Master-cabinet-makers were also know to have occasionally employed apprentice-belt-makers to make mounts they needed.