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Lot Essay
The superb japanned decoration on this cabinet is a marvelous example of the fashion for chinoiserie which dates back to the seventeenth century, when European travellers to the Orient brought back tales and engravings of the exotic sights they had seen. The charming scenes depicted on this cabinet were evidently inspired by such alluring travelogues. Contemporary images of Asia engraved and published by emissaries of the Dutch East Indies Company, as well as the presence of Jesuit missionaries in China, provided abundant, if not completely accurate, documentation for European artists. One such illustrated account was published by a Dutchman, Johan Nieuhof, in 1669, following an ambassadorial visit to the 'Great Tartar Chan', in 1665. Nieuhof's engravings were highly influential and provided artists with a range of enticing images of the East.
In addition to engravings and descriptions of Eastern travel, the Treatise on Japanning published in England in 1668 by Messrs. Stalker and Parker also provided a series of images appropriate for artists imitating Oriental lacquer. English influences in lacquerwork came to Germany in the late seventeenth century, through the importation of English lacquer goods to German centers such as Hamburg, Bremen, and Brunswick, and by English-trained German artisans who returned home to practice skills learned abroad. A number of examples of German lacquer decoration of the early 18th century clearly demonstrate the influence of English patterns, such as a cabinet illustrated in H. Huth, Lacquer of the West, Chicago, 1971, fig. 152. (For further discussion of the English influence on German lacquer, see Huth, ibid. pp. 62-63.)
German rulers were passionate about chinoiserie, and built special pavilions and rooms dedicated to their exotic tastes. Friedrich III of Brandenburg had three Porzellanzimmer built, one at the Oranienburg, and two at Charlottenburg, just outside Berlin. Friedrich also had in his service Gerard Dagly, a distinguished japanner, whom he appointed Kunstkammer Meister (Master of the Curio Cabinet), and who produced a variety of furniture and objects in lacquer. Elector Max Emanuel also had constructed at his palace at Nymphenburg the Pagodenburg, a chinoiserie pavilion built by his court architect Joseph Effner. Augustus the Strong, who had formed the Meissen manufactory to imitate Chinese porcelain, was no less enthusiastic about chinoiserie decoration. In addition to building a number of palaces around Dresden lavishly decorated in the chinoiserie taste, in 1710 he hired Martin Schnell as court "lacquermaster" and provided him with a workshop dedicated solely to the production of lacquer.
A Dresden red, blue and gilt-japanned bureau-cabinet attributed to Martin Schnell and made for Count Brhl, minister to Frederick August II (1740-1786) around 1740, illustrated in W. Holzhausen, Lack-kunst in Europa, Munich, 1982, plates 121-123 and pl. XVIII, shares with the bookcase offered a similar large scale use of chinoiserie decoration and framing elements of trellis reserves.
In addition to engravings and descriptions of Eastern travel, the Treatise on Japanning published in England in 1668 by Messrs. Stalker and Parker also provided a series of images appropriate for artists imitating Oriental lacquer. English influences in lacquerwork came to Germany in the late seventeenth century, through the importation of English lacquer goods to German centers such as Hamburg, Bremen, and Brunswick, and by English-trained German artisans who returned home to practice skills learned abroad. A number of examples of German lacquer decoration of the early 18th century clearly demonstrate the influence of English patterns, such as a cabinet illustrated in H. Huth, Lacquer of the West, Chicago, 1971, fig. 152. (For further discussion of the English influence on German lacquer, see Huth, ibid. pp. 62-63.)
German rulers were passionate about chinoiserie, and built special pavilions and rooms dedicated to their exotic tastes. Friedrich III of Brandenburg had three Porzellanzimmer built, one at the Oranienburg, and two at Charlottenburg, just outside Berlin. Friedrich also had in his service Gerard Dagly, a distinguished japanner, whom he appointed Kunstkammer Meister (Master of the Curio Cabinet), and who produced a variety of furniture and objects in lacquer. Elector Max Emanuel also had constructed at his palace at Nymphenburg the Pagodenburg, a chinoiserie pavilion built by his court architect Joseph Effner. Augustus the Strong, who had formed the Meissen manufactory to imitate Chinese porcelain, was no less enthusiastic about chinoiserie decoration. In addition to building a number of palaces around Dresden lavishly decorated in the chinoiserie taste, in 1710 he hired Martin Schnell as court "lacquermaster" and provided him with a workshop dedicated solely to the production of lacquer.
A Dresden red, blue and gilt-japanned bureau-cabinet attributed to Martin Schnell and made for Count Brhl, minister to Frederick August II (1740-1786) around 1740, illustrated in W. Holzhausen, Lack-kunst in Europa, Munich, 1982, plates 121-123 and pl. XVIII, shares with the bookcase offered a similar large scale use of chinoiserie decoration and framing elements of trellis reserves.