- Roentgen, Abraham
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born 1711, Mühlheim, Colognedied 1793, Neuwied?, TrierGerman furniture designer and cabinetmaker.In 1750 he established a shop in Neuwied, near Cologne. The Rococo-style furniture he produced there was of outstanding quality and was often decorated with inlay work of ivory and other semiprecious materials. Much of his work was created for various German courts. His son David Roentgen (1743–1807), who succeeded him as head of the firm in 1772, was appointed cabinetmaker to Marie-Antoinette of France. The Roentgens' shop was perhaps the most successful firm of furniture production in the 18th century.
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▪ European cabinetmakerborn 1711, Mühlheim, Colognedied 1793, Neuwied?, Trier [Germany]German joiner and designer who founded what became one of Europe's most widely renowned furniture workshops; he was the father of David Roentgen, the celebrated cabinetmaker to Queen Marie-Antoinette of France.After various jobs in Holland, the elder Roentgen settled (1731) in London and apparently was apprenticed in marquetry, engraving, and joinery. He became a member of the Moravian Church, a Protestant sect founded in Bohemia that emigrated to the British Isles in 1734. Returning to Germany in 1738, he departed in 1740 for North America as a Moravian missionary. Shipwrecked off the Irish coast, he temporarily worked in County Galway before returning to Germany, settling (1750) at Neuwied (just northwest of Cologne), where he opened a workshop that produced furniture of outstanding quality, often decorated with inlay work of ivory and other semiprecious materials. Much of this furniture was created for various German courts.Roentgen's son David succeeded him in 1772 as head of the firm; the two then worked in partnership until the senior Roentgen retired in 1784. The family workshop was famous for its fine Rococo-styled furniture and for music boxes, clocks, and mechanical toys.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
