Center Table

Danhauser Furniture Factory (1814–39) · Austria · c. 1825

In the years following the Napoleonic Wars, Austria played a crucial role in maintaining Europe's political stability. Its conservative government suppressed political activism among the middle classes, encouraging them to focus instead on domestic comfort and family life. In response Vienna's furniture makers adapted the grand Neoclassicism of earlier decades into a simpler, more modest style suited to middle-class use. Named after the fictional character Gottlieb Biedermeier—Bieder is German for "plain"—the style promoted simple shapes, unadorned surfaces, and practical elegance.

Medium

Cherry, walnut, pine, brass, and iron

Dimensions

76.2 × 126.4 × 73.1 cm (30 × 49 3/4 × 28 3/4 in.)

Accession

1986.179

Credit line

Gift of Tiffany Blake, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Brummer, Walter Brewster, Mrs. Richard Crane, R. E. Danielson, Frank Harding, Howard van Doren Shaw, and Mary P. Withers; purchased with funds provided by Edna Olive Johnson; the Richard T. Crane Jr. Memorial, and Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel Marx funds, by exchange