BY DIRCK VAN RIJSWIJCK, CIRCA 1660

The inlaid engraved mother-of-pearl technique of the present panel is characteristic of the work of Dirck van Rijswijck. This is reminiscent of pietre-dure inlays and was to become van Rijswijck's speciality. Although he only used mother-of-pearl and sparingly coloured marbles and stones, he was able to achieve a polychrome effect by using the colour variations within the different layers of mother-of-pearl, and different shells. The present example is a new addition to his oeuvre and is part of a group of panels which all have the same design of a floral wreath centred by a parrot. Kisluk-Grosheide lists two comparable plaques signed by him: one dated 1666, which was sold Christie's London 11 March 1971, lot 11 and another along with a further plaque inserted in a richly-mounted tortoiseshell secretaire, which are illustrated in D. Kisluk-Grosheide, 'Dirck van Rijswijck (1596-1679), a Master of Mother-of-Pearl', Oud Holland III-1997, pp. 119 and 149.

Dirck van Rijswijck was born in Clèves and was trained as a goldsmith. He moved to Antwerp in 1620 to work for the goldsmith Denys van Zele (ca. 1579 - after 1630). Around 1630 van Rijswijck moved to Amsterdam, where at first he worked as a gold and silversmith, gradually also working with engraved mother-of-pearl. From the middle of the 17th Century he started to inlay mother-of-pearl in slate or ebony. He was to become so famous for this work in his own time that in 1660, the great Dutch poet Joost van den Vondel, composed a long eulogy to one of Rijswijck's masterpieces (R. Baarsen, Nederlandse Meubelen, Zwolle, 1993, p. 36).