Lot 837 Dα

This cabinetmaker offered a piece corresponding to the present design as number 15 in his sales catalogue “Illustrations of the most elegant cabinetry works made and sold by Friedrich Gottlob Hoffmann”, published in Leipzig in 1789. It is described as follows “in the upper part is a section beneath a gallery (…) followed by a further section with an escritoire to write on whilst standing (…) If this section is pulled back and the cylinder front pushed upwards, it reveals a closed niche surrounded by further sections. A leaf can be pulled out to write on whilst seated. The lower part is formed by a chest with three drawers.” The present work corresponds exactly to this description, but differs slightly from the catalogue illustration. Hoffmann dispensed with the pilasters at the angles, and the mountings also follow a differing type, but one that was also used by Hoffmann.
Hoffmann moved to Leipzig in 1758 after completing his training, and there he became a master craftsman and opened his own workshop in 1770. He sold his furniture via the art dealer Carl Christian Rost and was immensely successful. This allowed him to establish a large studio with numerous employees, but that in turn made him highly unpopular with the Leipzig cabinetmakers guild, and he was involved in many years of legal battles. He was finally liberated from the burden of the guild after being named cabinetmaker to the Saxon Electoral Court in 1796. He was the first cabinetmaker in Germany to publish catalogues of his furniture. These came out in 1789 and 1795 and promptly found mention in Friedrich Justin Bertuch's "Journal des Luxus und der Moden" (journal of luxury and fashion) in Weimar, which further served to increase Hoffman's fame.