Viebahn Fine Arts

The large rectangular standing chest on stile feet, extensively mounted with wrought ironwork straps with stylised sixfoil motif. These are fixed with convex head nails: running vert...

Exceptional French Empire Mantel Clock in Gilt and Patinated Bronze A rare and visually arresting French Empire mantel clock, masterfully crafted in the form of a sculptural acanthus...

This filigree patent secretary, also known as a folding travel desk, is made of mahogany veneer and is decorated on the edges with fine thread i...

This finely crafted console table impresses with its strict architectural form and a striking, rare marble top. The frieze houses a large drawer (without lock), subtly integrated int...

This is a very decorative pair of 19th-century Italian obelisks; probably a Grand Tour souvenir. They are made of wood, coated in black lacquer, and mounted on a stepped base. Three ...

This pair of Empire console tables features unusual, turned mahogany legs in the front that are decorated with beautiful, fire-gilded bro...

This magnificent porcelain vase with a lid, crafted by Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin (KPM), rests on an elegant base and is exquisitely painted. The front and back of the va...

A Neoclassical Masterpiece: Berlin Gueridon After a Design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) In the refined world of early 19th-century Berlin, elegance met intellectual rigor—...

This is a rare wall mirror from the renowned Stobwasser manufactory, made around 1800 in either Berlin or Brunswick. This tall, rectangular mirror with original mirror glass impresse...

This delicate bookcase is characterized by clear lines and, despite its filigree structure, has a robust and high-quality construction. It is therefore suitable for decorative and fu...

This Norwegian silver-plated longboat on a wooden base impresses with its realistic miniature reproduction of a vikinger boat. The wavy shape of the wooden base wonderfully represent...

The slender secretaire on an unusual high stand with four curved legs dived into quarters, the frame with a central inlaid palmette motif. The fall down writing flap, enclosing a fitted interior with numerous drawers, above and below are two doors enclosing one shelf. The top of the secretaire in form of a classical triangular pediment, the center of which is decorated with an inlaid stylized anthemion. The entire front is very plain and geometrical, divided into six panels inlaid with rectangular fields in light wood. The design of this mahogany secretaire is based on classical Roman and Greek models, in this case the bookcases that were portrayed on frescoes, reliefs and Roman gold glass. As secretaires were not known in Antiquity, Abildgaard designed his secretaire as a cupboard though in such a way, that the two centre doors are actually a fall front writing top. The carved turned underframe is inspired by Etruscan footstools, which were known especially from reliefs and had been reproduced in contemporary prints. Abildgaard designed this piece of furniture far more in accordance with ancient tradition than did the other furniture designer of the day. The most important (and avantgarde) piece of the furniture Abildgaard designed in the first decade of the 19th century, is this secretaire, which marks a real renewal in relation to the secretaires that constituted the master's test for the members of the guild of cabinetmakers at this time. Compared with these, this secretaire is a very light piece of furniture that does not follow the contemporary fashion towards classical architectural decorations such as columns, pillars, architraves, etc. which often endow such pieces. Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard (11 September 1743 – 4 June 1809) was a leading Danish Neoclassical painter who also designed (mostly for his own use) elegant Grecian furniture...