From its humble beginnings in 1742 to its closing about 1800, the Roentgen firm pioneered advancements in superb marquetry, innovative designs, visionary production methods, and forward-thinking marketing strategies. The resulting objects were magnificent and ingenious. At the turn of a key, many of them literally unfold to reveal hidden compartments, secret drawers, and mechanical and musical devices. The hallmark Roentgen style is characterized by grandeur, inventiveness, and meticulously detailed shapes. “Neuwied Furniture,” as it was known, was sought by rulers throughout Europe, from King Frederick William II of Prussia and Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette of France to Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. Abraham Roentgen left Germany as a journeyman about 1731 and settled briefly in Holland before moving to London. There the cabinetmaker observed the aristocracy and the newly moneyed nobility of the burgeoning metropolis, but his resulting success led him astray. In 1737, in an attempt to change his profligate ways, he joined the Moravian Brethren-a religious community also called the Herrnhut Brotherhood-an offshoot of Pietism that was strictly organized according to Christ’s teachings. Their day-to-day lives were based on the concepts of brotherly love, mutual respect, and work for the common good rather than for personal gain. The Herrnhuter maintained trading and financial networks in various professions that helped to finance the community’s missionaries, and also established international commercial connections, which was quite unusual for the eighteenth century. Abraham was on his way to North Carolina as a missionary, but before crossing the Atlantic his ship encountered pirates. It managed to reach the Irish harbor of Galway, and after being stranded there for weeks Abraham was reunited in the Netherlands with his young wife, Susanna. They moved to Herrn Haag, near Frankfurt, where Abraham opened a workshop in 1742. The local nobility quickly recognized the quality of his furniture, particularly his progressive designs and forms. About 1750, after the Herrnhuter were expelled from Herrn Haag, the Count of Neuwied invited them to settle in his dominion to strengthen the local economy. He granted them religious freedom, partial exemption from local taxes, and unrestricted employment free from guild regulations (which traditionally limited the number of employees allotted to each workshop’s master); this freedom formed the basis for entrepreneurial aspirations. Abraham’s workshop flourished, and he took his innovative designs even further, adapting elegant French-inspired outlines combined with superb marquetry, intricate gilt-bronze mounts, and advanced mechanical devices (1999.147). Roentgen’s perfectly executed inventions became a status symbol for princely interiors all over Germany and Central Europe. Even though he was a Moravian and, in general, the nobility living in Catholic regions of the Holy Roman Empire hired only artisans of their own faith, Abraham attracted Catholic clients of international importance, underscoring his impeccable reputation. Count Johann Philipp von Walderdorff (1701–1768) was one such client. From 1756 to 1768, he was archbishop and elector of Trier, ruling some 200,000 subjects. In 1763, he also became prince-bishop of Worms, reigning over two ecclesiastical lands along the middle Rhine. Both regions were part of the centuries-old system of independent territories that formed the Holy Roman Empire-a loose political unit that was on the brink of becoming the modern nations