Fireplace Room

The magnificent fireplace was created by the Italian stucco master craftsman, Pietro Nicolo Gagini, in 1778 for the country house „Drimborn“ just outside of Aachen, which had been destroyed in the war. In keeping with the late 18th – century style, an opulently formed flower basket is wreathed with garlands and bows.

The Aachen bureau is from around 1780. The lower part is a chest of drawers with double drawers and ornamented with cornucopias and leaves. A roll-fronted, quarter-cylinder closure with elaborate ornamental carving connects the chest of drawers to the top cupboard section. The carvings on the doors of the closed top section are illustrious: musical instruments – a hunting horn and viola, trumpet and clarinet – are framed in garlands of roses. The crowning to this extraordinary „functional piece of furniture“ is a cambered cornice, characteristic of Aachen Rococo (also known as the „Aachen nose“).

A wonderful French pendulum clock from the first half of the 18th century is ornamented with gold-plated Rocaille appliqués. Above the glass and below the clockwork – with the signature „Tallon, à Paris“ – there is a plastic relief with what would seem to be an illustration of Neptune. The elaborate pendulum is crowned by a female figure on an eagle.