... The diversity of early Viennese Biedermeier furniture was based on a longer development that had already begun in Vienna in the 80-90s of the 18th century with early modern furniture designs and continued in a great variety at the beginning of the 19th century.
In contrast to the Empire, the Biedermeier period deliberately dispensed with expensive and luxurious fire-gilded fittings, reduced itself to a surface effect and used inlaid or painted ornaments such as palmettes, medallions, but also grotesque figures and figural depictions of people and animals in the early phase. Such inlaid human and animal figures can also be found on our early Lyra Secretaire, which in its rare, seemingly purist adherence to these principles - a complete and strict renunciation of metal fittings - must be regarded as an art and cultural-historically significant and valuable testimony to this rather short development of Biedermeier furniture.
Provenance: Important European collection of an industrialist family