Cabinet
Artist
Alexander Roux
(American, 1813 - 1886)
Date1860-1870
MediumRosewood, curly maple, black walnut, eastern white pine, cherry, yellow-poplar, marquetry of various woods; gilded bronze, painted porcelain, gilding
DimensionsOverall: 49 7/8 × 51 1/2 × 18 1/8in. (126.7 × 130.8 × 46cm)
ClassificationsFURNISHINGS
Credit LineGift of George and Barbara Callahan
Terms
Object number86.85
On View
Not on viewCollections
Copyright<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>.
Label TextBy 1850 Alexander Roux, the maker of this cabinet, was touted as one of the finest New York City cabinetmakers. In "The Architecture of Country Houses" (1850), Andrew Jackson Downing, a cultivator of popular taste, noted, "In New York, the rarest and most elaborate designs, especially for the drawing-room and library use, are to be found at the warehouse of Roux, in Broadway." Roux steadily capitalized on his French ancestry and training by promoting himself as a "French cabinet maker" and by providing the French styles favored by his clientele.
American-made drawing room cabinets were called "French cabinets" because the influences of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French antecedents were restated in them. The form reprised classically derived motifs and numerous artistic formulas including marquetry, ormolu mounts, and porcelain plaques. This prepossessing form communicated the wealth of an owner; with little utilitarian function, the cabinet provided an extravagant stage for personal bibelots and art pieces.
Anna Tobin D'Ambrosio
