Roentgen, Abraham (1711–1793)
Roentgen, Abraham
London; cabinet maker (b.1711–d.1793)
Worked in London c.1733–38.
A celebrated German cabinet maker born at Mühlheim on the Rhine, he learned his trade from his father, Gottfried. He left home in 1731 to work with masters at the Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
About 1733 he moved to London where, according to a private family chronicle, he specialised in ‘engraving, making mosaics in wood and producing mechanical devices and was sought after by the most expert masters’ one of whom was ‘Master Gern at Newcastle House, St. John's Square, Clerkenwell’ — apparently a garbled reference to the furniture maker William Gomm of that address.
Tea chest made of oak and cedar, veneered with rosewood, with brass, iron, and steel metalwork. The corners are emphasised by brass moldings ending in tongue motifs at the base, c.1750-55 [MET 1999.147]. Purchase, Friends of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Gifts, 1999. Made available by a Creative Commons CCO .1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
While in London, Abraham joined the Moravian Brotherhood after hearing Peter Böhler preach. He returned to Germany on 13 June 1738 in the company of other Moravian Brethren, including Johann Friedrich Hintz. About 1752 he founded a workshop at Neuwied, near Coblenz, which established a European reputation for prodigy furniture. In 1765 he despatched one of his own journeymen, Michael Rummer, ‘to stay a year’ with his old master.
Abraham made a second visit to London in 1766 and on his return to Nieuwied took with him John Okeley, the fourteen-year old son of Francis Okeley, a friend and major figure in the Moravian Brotherhood. John remained with Abraham until returning to England in 1772. Nothing definite is known about Abraham's London products, but the Anglo-Germanic character of some brass inlaid furniture attributed to the John Channon workshop has fuelled speculation that he was associated with this firm.
The Anglo-German exchange ran both ways in that non-ferrous mounts, used by Abraham, can be identified in English illustrated order catalogues of which Birmingham firms were responsible for the lion’s share. More recently it has been suggested that Roentgen worked for or with Frederick Hintz, who specialised in making brass inlaid tables and other furniture.
His son, David, who styled himself ‘Englischer Kabinettmacher’ was the premier continental ébéniste of his generation. The workshop closed down about 1795.
Source: DEFM; Boynton, ‘The Moravian Brotherhood and the Migration of Furniture Makers in the Eighteenth Century’, Furniture History (1993); Gilbert & Murdoch, John Channon and brass-inlaid furniture (1993); Gilbert & Murdoch, ‘Channon Revisited’, Furniture History (1994); Dann, ‘English influence on furniture mounts manufactured in Iserlohn’, Furniture History (2002); Graf, ‘Moravians in London; A Case Study in Furniture Making, c.1735-65’, Furniture History (2004).
The original entry from Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840 can be found at British History Online.