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Lot Essay
From now on, one does not have to travel to China, to cross so many seas, to speak with the Chinese in Bejing's impressive palaces; one does not have to search for the court of the sun, built by Vulcan, as it shines from Ovid's mind and books with glow and heavenly gold; the art never understood by the Chinese, never invented by Vulcan, can be found in full splendor at Van Rijswijck's house nearby.
In 1660 the celebrated Dutch poet Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679) began a poem with these lines - having been inspired by a slate tabletop inlaid with mother-of-pearl (now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam), that was made by Dirck van Rijswijck (1596-1679).
After finishing his training in his hometown Cleve, Van Rijswijck worked as a goldsmith under Denys Zele (ca. 1579 - after 1630) in Antwerp. Although Van Rijswijck was described as a goldsmith throughout his long career, no pieces of jewelry or precious objects from his atelier have been identified (except for the remounting of agates in rings for Isabella Brant, first wife of Peter Paul Rubens).
In the late 1620s or early 1630s Van Rijswijck made the most important step in his career by moving with his family to Amsterdam. Amsterdam was the so-called 'Marketplace of Northern Europe' during the Golden Age and it was here where Van Rijswick not only came in contact with lacquer furniture - imported from the Far East by the East India Company, decorated with mother-of-pearl (for a Japanese lacquer cabinet see lot 283 in this sale) - , but also with the marble inlaid pietra dura panels from Italy. Around the middle of the century and probably under influence of both techniques and materials, Van Rijswijck began to inlay panels of ebony or slate with mother-of-pearl, marble, colored bone or ivory, creating mostly 'still-life pictures', like the present lot.
Van Rijswijck used the dark tones of ebony or the deep black color of polished slate as alternatives to the glossy surface of Asian lacquer, so admired in the West, as a background for the selected pieces of mother-of-pearl marquetry. After engraving the shaped inner shell layers - to add distinctive contours and shadows to the flowers, vase and parrot, as can be seen in the present lot - Van Rijswijck darkened the lines with a mixture of charcoal and wax or oil to make his decorations more visible against the polished mother-of-pearl. The use of brecciated marble - inspired by the Florentine pietra dura - in the form of a table top, provides a subtle addition of color.
The choice of depicting a flower vase in the style of the early Dutch painters, see for example Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573 - 1621), was most likely a practical choice because their symmetrical bouquets - composed of individual flowers - lent themselves better to Van Rijswijck's two dimensional marquetry, than the compositions of his contemporary virtuoso painters, like Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1606-1683).
The present example can be placed in a group of panels which all have the same basic design of a floral bouquet issuing from a vase with an animal to the side. There are two comparable pieces in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, one in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and another in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. A very similar composition was sold in these salerooms, 6 October 2004, lot 23 (26,290).
Influenced by imported lacquered goods and pietra dura panels and inspired by the strong contemporary interest in natural sciences - including the documentation of floral species and high demand for floral still-life painting - Van Rijswijck excelled in creating unique and rare marquetry compositions. He employed this technique, for which he became internationally famous in his own time, until the end of his life in February 1679.
Although Van Rijswijck received much recognition during his life - especially during the 1660's, when various foreign travelers, like the Grand Duke Cosimo III, visited his workshop in 1667 - he appears not to have had many pupils or followers who were able to compete with him.
Cf. D. Kisluk-Grosheide, 'Dirck van Rijswijck (1596-1679), a Master of Mother-of-Pearl', Oud Holland, III - 1997, pp. 77-152.
In 1660 the celebrated Dutch poet Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679) began a poem with these lines - having been inspired by a slate tabletop inlaid with mother-of-pearl (now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam), that was made by Dirck van Rijswijck (1596-1679).
After finishing his training in his hometown Cleve, Van Rijswijck worked as a goldsmith under Denys Zele (ca. 1579 - after 1630) in Antwerp. Although Van Rijswijck was described as a goldsmith throughout his long career, no pieces of jewelry or precious objects from his atelier have been identified (except for the remounting of agates in rings for Isabella Brant, first wife of Peter Paul Rubens).
In the late 1620s or early 1630s Van Rijswijck made the most important step in his career by moving with his family to Amsterdam. Amsterdam was the so-called 'Marketplace of Northern Europe' during the Golden Age and it was here where Van Rijswick not only came in contact with lacquer furniture - imported from the Far East by the East India Company, decorated with mother-of-pearl (for a Japanese lacquer cabinet see lot 283 in this sale) - , but also with the marble inlaid pietra dura panels from Italy. Around the middle of the century and probably under influence of both techniques and materials, Van Rijswijck began to inlay panels of ebony or slate with mother-of-pearl, marble, colored bone or ivory, creating mostly 'still-life pictures', like the present lot.
Van Rijswijck used the dark tones of ebony or the deep black color of polished slate as alternatives to the glossy surface of Asian lacquer, so admired in the West, as a background for the selected pieces of mother-of-pearl marquetry. After engraving the shaped inner shell layers - to add distinctive contours and shadows to the flowers, vase and parrot, as can be seen in the present lot - Van Rijswijck darkened the lines with a mixture of charcoal and wax or oil to make his decorations more visible against the polished mother-of-pearl. The use of brecciated marble - inspired by the Florentine pietra dura - in the form of a table top, provides a subtle addition of color.
The choice of depicting a flower vase in the style of the early Dutch painters, see for example Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573 - 1621), was most likely a practical choice because their symmetrical bouquets - composed of individual flowers - lent themselves better to Van Rijswijck's two dimensional marquetry, than the compositions of his contemporary virtuoso painters, like Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1606-1683).
The present example can be placed in a group of panels which all have the same basic design of a floral bouquet issuing from a vase with an animal to the side. There are two comparable pieces in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, one in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and another in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. A very similar composition was sold in these salerooms, 6 October 2004, lot 23 (26,290).
Influenced by imported lacquered goods and pietra dura panels and inspired by the strong contemporary interest in natural sciences - including the documentation of floral species and high demand for floral still-life painting - Van Rijswijck excelled in creating unique and rare marquetry compositions. He employed this technique, for which he became internationally famous in his own time, until the end of his life in February 1679.
Although Van Rijswijck received much recognition during his life - especially during the 1660's, when various foreign travelers, like the Grand Duke Cosimo III, visited his workshop in 1667 - he appears not to have had many pupils or followers who were able to compete with him.
Cf. D. Kisluk-Grosheide, 'Dirck van Rijswijck (1596-1679), a Master of Mother-of-Pearl', Oud Holland, III - 1997, pp. 77-152.