Who was David Roentgen in marquetry design?

David Roentgen marquetry design gained fame across Europe during the late 1700s. David Roentgen came from Neuwied in present-day Germany. His workshop supplied furniture for royal courts in France, Russia, and Prussia. Queen Marie Antoinette bought several Roentgen pieces before the French Revolution. Roentgen furniture stood apart from ordinary cabinet work through hidden mechanisms, moving parts, and finely shaded marquetry pictures and some writing desks opened with secret springs and concealed drawers. One famous mechanical table could rise at the touch of a button. Roentgen employed skilled clockmakers, engineers, bronze casters, and marquetry cutters, where workshop records suggest that more than 100 workers took part in production during busy years. His marquetry images showed flowers, musical tools, birds, trophies, landscapes, and classical scenes and furniture scholars often compare his work with luxury clocks from the same era. The Metropolitan Museum of Art owns several Roentgen pieces today. Auction sales from London and Paris still attract huge prices, where one roll-top desk linked with his workshop sold for several million euros during the early 2000s.