Y A GEORGE II KINGWOOD AND GILT BRASS MOUNTED TEA CADDY ALMOST CERTAINLY BY ABRAHAM ROENTGEN (1711-1793), CIRCA 1735-50With hidden drawer to one side activated by a brass inlaid catch to the interior16cm high, 22cm wide, 14cm deepAfter a briefly working with various cabinet makers in Holland, in 1731 Abraham Roentgen began work in London- possibly working under William Gomm. He found his niche creating elegant, small furniture, often with brass inlay and mounts such as handle and bracket feet, which could be bought from the metalwork pattern books and sales catalogues or Birmingham foundries. And, like the later work produced in his workshop in Neuwied with his son David, he specialised in the 'novelty' of hidden compartments, and mechanised detailing to delight the landed gentry and richer collectors. This example of a tea chest or caddy features a 'hidden' spring-operated secret drawer, which occupies the base of the chest and opens from the right side when a button on top of the side panel is pushed. Unlike English variants/copies of this design, in this example the 'secret' spring release button is matched with a false button to the opposing upper edge.For a closely related examples of tea caddy attributed to Abraham Roentgen see; Met Museum, Accession Number: 1999.147, Christie's, Amsterdam, Furniture, Clocks, Sculpture and Works of Art, 27th September 2001, Lot 687 (€9,988). Literature; Helena Hayward and Sarah Medlam. The Continental Context: Germany. In John Channon and Brass-Inlaid Furniture 1730-1760, by Christopher Gilbert and Tessa Murdoch, pp. 24-36. Exh. cat. Temple Newsam House, Leeds; 1993. New Haven, 1993, pp. 122-25, pls. 161-69. Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the RoentgensWolfram Koeppe Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, pages 52-53.