A video of unlocking a cabinet with marvellous inbuilt mechanism is being shared on social media claiming it as the 150 years old Almirah in Kerala. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of unlocking a 150-year-old Almirah in Kerala.
Fact: Video shows ‘The Roentgen’s Berlin Secretary Cabinet’ in Europe built by Abraham and his son David Roentgen in the Eighteenth-century. This cabinet was owned by King Frederick William II. It is now placed as the collection in ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’ in Newyork. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search, similar visuals were found in a video published on the official YouTube channel of ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’ (The Met) on ‘25 October 2012’. ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’ in Newyork uploaded this video with the title ‘The Roentgen’s Berlin Secretary Cabinet’ on YouTube. In the description of the video, it is mentioned as one of the most important products from Abraham and his son David Roentgen’s workshop. It is described as one of the finest achievements of European furniture making in the eighteenth century. Sharing the same video on the website, ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’ mentioned that this cabinet was owned by King Frederick William II. It is also mentioned that this Berlin cabinet is uniquely remarkable for its ornate decoration, mechanical complexity and sheer size. This Roentgen furniture from the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin is showcased at ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’ during the Exhibitions.
The same video was also shared by a user on ‘Reddit’ with the title ‘Elaborate Mechanical Furniture- The Roentgen’s Berlin Secretary Cabinet’. Victoria and Albert Museum also uploaded a video describing this cabinet build by David Roentgen.
To sum it up, ‘The Roentgen’s Berlin Secretary Cabinet’ in ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’ in Newyork is falsely shared as the 150-year-old Almirah in Kerala.
