a dutch rosewood and ebony cupboard

17TH CENTURY

Details

a dutch rosewood and ebony cupboard
17th Century
The overhanging cornice with horizontal alternating borders divided by ripple mouldings and with carved lion masks, above a pair of doors with raised panels and conforming borders, flanked and divided by turned pilasters headed by Ionic capitals and with moulded spreading bases, enclosing a plain interior with two shelves and two shelf-drawers, above a long base drawer, the sides with conforming raised panels, on later bell-shaped feet, restorations
214cm. high x 203cm. wide x 77cm. deep

Lot Essay

This type of two-door cupboard is generally called a `kussenkast', after the distinctive raised panels or `cushions' in the doors, whereby a high level of plasticity is achieved. The example is embellished with refined ripple mouldings or robbellijsten, also used for picture frames, which were executed by a different craftsman than the cupboard itself. The cabinet-maker has relied on contrasting ebony and rosewood veneers for an additional decorative effect. These exotic timbers were imported in increasing quantities by the Dutch East India Company, and played an important role in Dutch cabinet-making in the 3rd quarter of the 17th Century. A related example, previously in the collection of Baron d' Aulnis de Bourouill, is illustrated in C.H. De Jonge, Holländische Möbel und Raumkunst von 1650-1720, The Hague, 1922, p. 88.

See illustration

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