Minneapolis Institute of Art

Center table

Hans Daniel Sommer

Date

c. 1680

Medium

Wood, tortoiseshell, brass, pewter, hard stone, ebony, horn

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Hans Daniel Sommer came from a family of German cabinetmakers. Many had worked in France and were well versed in the elaborate decorative techniques favored by the French court. Sommer established his own workshop in western Germany in the 1660s and made ornate baroque furniture for the German nobility. Sommer specialized in marquetry: thin, decorative veneers made from various materials. He created the arabesques, or scrolling patterns, at the center of this tabletop from pewter and tortoiseshell. Laying thin sheets of the two materials on top of each other, he cut them out together with the aid of a paper pattern, to ensure that the designs would match when assembled. The table has a decorative border of hard stone, brass, and ebony, and figures made from mother-of-pearl. Europe

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