Lot Essay
Johan Matusch, also called Matouche, flourished from circa 1701-31.
This dressing-box, conceived in the Louis XIV 'antique' or Roman manner, was almost certainly executed by Johan Matusch. A Bohemian by birth, Matusch probably trained in Paris, as he occasionally signed his name Matouche. Having established his workshop in Ansbach, he is known to have enjoyed the patronage of Wilhelm Friedrich, Margrave of Ansbach (reigned 1702-23) before 1701, when he petitioned the Margrave for payment for a floral marquetry floor executed in the Margrave's private appartments at Nymphenburg. Appointed Kammer Ebenist and, shortly afterwards gulden a year in return for supplying one piece of inlaid work a year. Finally raised to the postion of Hofschreinerei-Inspektor in 1715, he is last mentionned in the archives for 1731 (H. Kreisel, Die Kunst des Deutschen Möbels, II, 1970, p.100, pls. 232-4).
A closely related games-box by Matusch is in Sclöss Nymphenburg and is illustrated in H. Kreisel, op.cit., figs. 232-4.
Embellished with flowered-spandrels of silver-embossed acanthus, this dressing-box is inlaid with flowered acanthus-scrolls inhabited by sporting putti, while a serpent-bearing eagle symbolises Roman virtue and a cornucopiae symbolises Peace and Plenty. Such decoration derives from Jean Le Pautre's pattern-book of the late 1650's, entitled Rinceaux de Frises et Feuillages.
This dressing-box, conceived in the Louis XIV 'antique' or Roman manner, was almost certainly executed by Johan Matusch. A Bohemian by birth, Matusch probably trained in Paris, as he occasionally signed his name Matouche. Having established his workshop in Ansbach, he is known to have enjoyed the patronage of Wilhelm Friedrich, Margrave of Ansbach (reigned 1702-23) before 1701, when he petitioned the Margrave for payment for a floral marquetry floor executed in the Margrave's private appartments at Nymphenburg. Appointed Kammer Ebenist and, shortly afterwards gulden a year in return for supplying one piece of inlaid work a year. Finally raised to the postion of Hofschreinerei-Inspektor in 1715, he is last mentionned in the archives for 1731 (H. Kreisel, Die Kunst des Deutschen Möbels, II, 1970, p.100, pls. 232-4).
A closely related games-box by Matusch is in Sclöss Nymphenburg and is illustrated in H. Kreisel, op.cit., figs. 232-4.
Embellished with flowered-spandrels of silver-embossed acanthus, this dressing-box is inlaid with flowered acanthus-scrolls inhabited by sporting putti, while a serpent-bearing eagle symbolises Roman virtue and a cornucopiae symbolises Peace and Plenty. Such decoration derives from Jean Le Pautre's pattern-book of the late 1650's, entitled Rinceaux de Frises et Feuillages.