17TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY NAPLES, THE ENGLISH STAND FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY

By the turn of the 17th century Naples was a centre for the production of this kind work as its Spanish rulers had annexed Portugal in 1580s thereby gaining control of the trade in ivory and ebony from Goa. This supply of raw materials fostered the burgeoning production of engraved ivory goods, such as the present lot, and enticed skilled émigré craftsmen from Germany and Flanders. They would have probably brought with them popular prints of the time such as those produced by Virgil Solis (1514-1562) and his workshop at Nuremberg, on which the engravings to this cabinet are probably based (Ed Christopher Wilk, Western Furniture 1350 to the Present Day, London, 1996, p 50).
A similar cabinet, possibly from the same workshop, was sold Sotheby's Paris, 5 December 2001, lot 97.