Meubles À Secrets, Secrets De Meubles

Exhibition at the Château de Rueil-Malmaison, 17 November 2018 - 18 February 2019

Following 18th-century German cabinetmakers, which outdid each other in ingenuity to create secret hideouts and mechanisms, early 19th century craftsmen designed furniture with multiple security. Through the most appropriated pieces devoted to hide papers or billets galants, the secrétaire first stands out.
This book reveals all the inventiveness of 19th-century wood craftsmen through the manufacturing secrets of this furniture. It also presents for the first time the functioning, remained unknown until now, of Martin Guillaume Biennais's furniture workshop.