Johannes Klinckerfuß
A German Writing Desk
A German Writing Desk
work by the court cabinet maker Johannes Klinckerfuß (1770–1831)
The writing desk had been stored for decades in an English court depository, forgotten and without being recognized.
Originally the secretaire was a present of her Majesty Queen Charlotte Auguste Mathilde of Württemberg (1766 – 1828, daughter of King George III of England) to her stepson King Wilhelm I.
King Wilhelm I. bequeathed the furniture to his daughter, Princess Auguste, and her son Wilhelm inherited later the writing desk. The last royal owner was Princess Auguste’s grandson Hermann. In 1909 he lost his royal title as he married an untitled woman. As “Graf (Count) von Ostheim he moved to Great Britain in the thirties – in this way the secretaire reached the UK. The childless couple died in a car accident; therefore their estate was deposited and fell into oblivion. A further label with the inscription “Maple’s Depository von Ostheim” refers to this time.
Mahogany, porcelain and gilded bronze
120,5 × 139,5 × 80 cm
Prov.: King Wilhelm I. of Baden-Württemberg, Auguste von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach
