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Bureau with concealed journeyman inscription
Lorentz (Lars) Nordin1770
Nordiska Museet
Stockholm, Sweden
Details
- Title: Bureau with concealed journeyman inscription
- Creator: Lorentz (Lars) Nordin
- Creator Lifespan: 1708/1786
- Date Created: 1770
- Location Created: Stockholm, Sweden
- Subject: Bureau, rococo
- Physical Dimensions: w87 x h103 x d48 cm
- More Information: Lorentz Nordin (1708-1786) was considered the foremost Swedish rococo cabinet-maker. He supplied furniture to both the court and the open market and during 1750s and 1760s his workshop played a significant role in Stockholm as a manufacturer of exclusive veneer furniture. Nordin was born in Västmanland and received his basic training in Stockholm. After several years as a journeyman and training in Paris, he returned to Sweden. On the recommendation of the architect and superintendent Carl Hårleman, he was taken on by the court as the royal joiner in 1743. The reason was that a new castle was being built in Stockholm that was to be equipped with furniture in the French style. In 1752, Nordin became a master of the Stockholm cabinet-makers' office without having to produce the otherwise mandatory masterpiece. It is rare to encounter journeyman signatures in furniture from the eighteenth century, but there is a journeyman signature concealed inside the bureau: “David Gabriel Stumpff”. Nordin employed several apprentices and journeymen and it is known that Stumpff worked for Nordin for a few years around 1770. So it is around that time that the bureau would have been made. The bureau is veneered with olive wood, a very exclusive wood at that time. The natural line of the wood has been used skilfully and is laid in one direction diagonally upwards. Nordin was active for a relatively long time, and the bureau was made late in his career. When this elegant French-inspired rococo bureau was being made, the Gustavian style had already made its first appearance in Stockholm. Signature: L NORDIN
- Materials and Techniques: Pine, veneered with olive wood, bronze
- Type: Furniture
- Rights: Photo: Peter Segemark, © Nordiska museet
- External Link: http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/sekretr/S-NM/NM.0138592*1
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