A vertically-oriented, rectangular two-door cabinet with a high-style French design highlighting a rich, orange-brown woodgrain with geometric borders and an inlaid marquetry scene in the center. The rectilinear piece is composed of rare thuyawood, mahogany and yellow-gold satinwood with additional inlays of ebony and plastic fittings. Perched atop four tipped legs, the center of the front panel features a small marquetry scene -- an inlaid work made from small pieces of variously colored wood or other materials -- depicting a garden, fountain, and marble terrace with balustrade in perspective. Along the top of the piece are vertical bars of varying coloration; geometric Art Deco border patterns frame the side the bottom edges, featuring parallel and wave lines. Thuyawood (pronounced two-ya) is from the Thuya tree, a conifer from the cedar family, and is exclusively native to Morocco. This highly praised conifer grows only in the forests of the Atlas mountains east of Essaouira, a beautiful coastal town. Thuya was highly praised by Romans and Greeks and its oils were used in religious rituals and ceremonies. Thuya trees reach maturity over many decades. The praised part of this tree is not the trunk, but the burl buried in the ground which has a deeper color, a more concentrated aroma, and a fascinating grain. The burls are very scarce and hard to locate, extract, and transport.

See more objects with the tag storage, decorative, department store.

Object Timeline

	We acquired this object.
1921	Work on this object began.
1931	Work on this object ended.
2017	We photographed this object. We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Object ID #907214297

This is a Armoire. It was manufactured by Company of Master Craftsmen and retailed by W. and J. Sloane.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

It is dated ca. 1926. Its medium is thuyawood, mahogany, satinwood, plastic, ebony.

In 1926 recent acquisitions of Ruhlmann furniture were displayed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Company of Master Craftsmen used these new pieces as inspiration to adapt high-style French designs to American tastes, in sizes appropriate for apartment living.

It is credited Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Theodore R. Gamble, Jr. Gift, in honor of his mother, Mrs. Theodore Robert Gamble, 1980 (1980.333).

Here we have a secretary desk constructed from lumber-core plywood with veneers of Macassar ebony, oak, poplar and mahogany. Its legs are capped with ivory with ivory stripes running up outer sides of front supports. On the bottom of the desk is a horizontal drawer accessed by beaded tassel pulls set in ivory mounts. The desk’s contents are accessed by a key inserted into a keyhole inscribed by inset oval of inlaid ivory. Closed in the first image, there is an accompanying second image where the top half is opened. The interior and writing surface is sheathed in deep oxblood leather. There are more ivory and tasseled-pulls and to provide access to two storage drawers and cabinet on the left side. To the right are open, squared spaces. A ring of rectangular ivory inlay runs around the upper perimeter of the cabinet.

Object ID #907214291
macassar ebony, ivory, leather, aluminum leaf, silver, silk, oak, lumber-core....
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Edward C. Moore Jr. Gift,....
66.2016.1

Secretary
mahogany, glass, and brass.
Lent by Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York. Museum purchase, acquired....
87.2016.1

Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 134.6 × 90.8 × 51.4 cm (53 in. × 35 3/4 in. × 20 1/4 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2oaHcP/
Accession Number 66.2016.3
Object ID 907214297