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A GERMAN KARELIAN-BIRCH, SATINWOOD, TORTOISESHELL, PEWTER AND MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID APOTHECARY'S CABINET

CIRCA 1820

Details
A GERMAN KARELIAN-BIRCH, SATINWOOD, TORTOISESHELL, PEWTER AND MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID APOTHECARY'S CABINET
CIRCA 1820
With a domed top above two doors inlaid with blue glass panels, enclosing a fitted interior with compartments for leather and ceramic jars with Royal Crowns above variously-sized cedar-lined drawers, on gadrooned feet, losses
32 in. (81 cm.) high; 20¾ in. (53 cm.) wide; 8½ in. (21.5 cm.) deep
Provenance
Acquired through Pierre Delbée by Don Bartolomé March Servera for Miguel Angel, Madrid, circa 1962.

Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis. Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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Lot Essay

With its exquisite decoration of Karelian birch and other precious woods, ceder drawer-linings and refined mounts, this cabinet is among the finest examples of Russian cabinet-making around 1800. This cabinet is close to the work of the cabinet-maker Heinrich Gambs (1765-1831), who trained under David Roentgen and came to St. Petersburg in 1789. It relates to the furniture Gambs supplied to Pavlovsk in the early 19th Century , when Andrei Voronikhin (1760-1814) was rebuilding the palace (H. Stuchley, Die Familie Gambs, Weltkunst 11 (1995), p. 2957.

Gambs' earliest and most monumental piece of furniture supplied to the Imperial Court was a cylinder-bureau, which he executed in 1795. Both in shape and in design, it closely resembles Roentgen's cylinder-bureau which he sold to Catherine the Great in 1783. However, Roentgen did not remain in favour and from 1790 furniture was no longer acquired from him by the Imperial family. Gambs soon became the principal supplier, in particular to Catherine the Great's heir, Paul and his wife Maria Feodorovna. His pieces were initially clearly inspired by Roentgen's work, but soon Gambs developed his own highly precious style, known for its elegants shapes, fine brass inlays and ormolu mounts, of which the present cabinet is an excellent example.

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