Lot Essay
This cabinet, with its hardwood case flowered with mother-of-pearl arabesque foliage inhabited by birds and hunting figures, conceals an exotic ivory-veneered and carved interior. The latter is embellished with engraved 'History' tablets incorporated in a Doric triumphal-arched facade, whose architecture recalls cabinet engravings issued around 1600, such as that published by Michael Baumeister in 1633 (H. Kreisel ed., Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels, Munich, 1968, vol. I, fig. 393).
A bear-hunt portrayed on the exterior relates to Nuremberg engravings of the 1590s and to horn-inlay, such as appears on a late 16th Century South German games-box now at Arundel Castle (S. Jervis, 'Furniture at Arundel Castle', Connoisseur, March 1978, p. 208). The inlay on the exterior is further closely related to a wall-plaque dated 1606 at Eastnor Castle, which has mother-of-pearl birds set amongst densly scrolling foliage, and a casket in a private collection also inlaid in mother-of-pearl with densely scrolling foliage and flowers (H. Blackmore, 'Muskets for the City Companies', Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1995, p. 16, fig. 8, p. 5, fig. 7, respectively). These works are generally attributed to gunsmiths working in London, who are believed to be immigrants from the Low Countries or Germany, such as Lambrecht Jansen. This type of inlay is depicted on a pistol in a portrait of Captain Thomas Lee, dated 1594, in the Tate Gallery (The Journal of the Arms & Armour Society, London, 1959-1961, vol. III, plate XXXIII). A similar inlay of ivory on a Portuguese colonial chair of circa 1580, which formerly belonged to the Swedish royal collection, is illustrated in B. Ferrao, Mobiliário Português, Porto, 1990, vol. III, p. 51, cat. 348. These decorations further relate to a group of cabinets and table tops, all inlaid with scrolling foliage in mother-of-pearl, believed to be from Venice, where the Ottoman art, to which they relate, influenced the Italian craftsmen (A. González-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, Milan, 1986, vol. II, figs. 693-696, and Il Gusto dei Principi, Milan, 1993, vol. II, figs. 585-587). Two table tops of this group bear the dates 1603 and 1604, respectively. A cabinet from this group from the collection of Radley College, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, was sold at Sotheby's London, 30 May 1997, lot 72. The decoration on these pieces normally, however, issues from vases and does not incorporate hunting scenes and is slightly looser in composition than on this cabinet.
The interior of the cabinet on the other hand can be related to an Italian ebony and ivory-inlaid cabinet, attributed to the Flemish craftsman Jacopo Fiamengo and executed around 1600, during the period when Naples was under Spanish rule (C. Wilke, Western Furniture, London, 1996, p. 50). Ivory engraving was a specialty of Naples and was executed by natives such as Gennaro Piciato and Jacopo de Curtis, or by immigrants from Northern Europe such as Petrus Pax. Naples, under Spanish rule at this time, thus had access to the virtual monopoly the latter country had on ivory and ebony imports from Goa (Portugal was annexed by Spain in 1589). There were, however, also Neapolitan craftsmen, such as the engraver Antonio Spano, active 1579-1614, who settled in Madrid and worked for Philip II and Philip III. A cabinet with highly skilled engraving by Spano is in the collection of Varez Fisa Nápoles, Madrid (M. Paz Aguiló Alonso, El Mueble en Espana Siglos XVI-XVII, Madrid, 1993, p. 324, fig. 264)
The combination of extremely exotic and highly prized materials and the skilled execution of the cabinet would indicate that its probable origin is either Naples or Madrid, where foreign craftsmen amalgamated their skills with those of the local craftsmen.
A bear-hunt portrayed on the exterior relates to Nuremberg engravings of the 1590s and to horn-inlay, such as appears on a late 16th Century South German games-box now at Arundel Castle (S. Jervis, 'Furniture at Arundel Castle', Connoisseur, March 1978, p. 208). The inlay on the exterior is further closely related to a wall-plaque dated 1606 at Eastnor Castle, which has mother-of-pearl birds set amongst densly scrolling foliage, and a casket in a private collection also inlaid in mother-of-pearl with densely scrolling foliage and flowers (H. Blackmore, 'Muskets for the City Companies', Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1995, p. 16, fig. 8, p. 5, fig. 7, respectively). These works are generally attributed to gunsmiths working in London, who are believed to be immigrants from the Low Countries or Germany, such as Lambrecht Jansen. This type of inlay is depicted on a pistol in a portrait of Captain Thomas Lee, dated 1594, in the Tate Gallery (The Journal of the Arms & Armour Society, London, 1959-1961, vol. III, plate XXXIII). A similar inlay of ivory on a Portuguese colonial chair of circa 1580, which formerly belonged to the Swedish royal collection, is illustrated in B. Ferrao, Mobiliário Português, Porto, 1990, vol. III, p. 51, cat. 348. These decorations further relate to a group of cabinets and table tops, all inlaid with scrolling foliage in mother-of-pearl, believed to be from Venice, where the Ottoman art, to which they relate, influenced the Italian craftsmen (A. González-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, Milan, 1986, vol. II, figs. 693-696, and Il Gusto dei Principi, Milan, 1993, vol. II, figs. 585-587). Two table tops of this group bear the dates 1603 and 1604, respectively. A cabinet from this group from the collection of Radley College, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, was sold at Sotheby's London, 30 May 1997, lot 72. The decoration on these pieces normally, however, issues from vases and does not incorporate hunting scenes and is slightly looser in composition than on this cabinet.
The interior of the cabinet on the other hand can be related to an Italian ebony and ivory-inlaid cabinet, attributed to the Flemish craftsman Jacopo Fiamengo and executed around 1600, during the period when Naples was under Spanish rule (C. Wilke, Western Furniture, London, 1996, p. 50). Ivory engraving was a specialty of Naples and was executed by natives such as Gennaro Piciato and Jacopo de Curtis, or by immigrants from Northern Europe such as Petrus Pax. Naples, under Spanish rule at this time, thus had access to the virtual monopoly the latter country had on ivory and ebony imports from Goa (Portugal was annexed by Spain in 1589). There were, however, also Neapolitan craftsmen, such as the engraver Antonio Spano, active 1579-1614, who settled in Madrid and worked for Philip II and Philip III. A cabinet with highly skilled engraving by Spano is in the collection of Varez Fisa Nápoles, Madrid (M. Paz Aguiló Alonso, El Mueble en Espana Siglos XVI-XVII, Madrid, 1993, p. 324, fig. 264)
The combination of extremely exotic and highly prized materials and the skilled execution of the cabinet would indicate that its probable origin is either Naples or Madrid, where foreign craftsmen amalgamated their skills with those of the local craftsmen.