During the second half of the 16th century, the technique of combining ebony veneers with engraved ivory panels was brought to Italy by emigrant craftsmen from Germany and the Netherlands. The most renowned craftsmen specializing in this form were Giovanni Battista de Curtis, an ivory engraver from Cava dei Tirreni near Naples, and Jacobo Fiamingo, a cabinet maker from Germany. They signed a contract dated 31 July 1569 in Naples for the making of two cabinets with ivory panels engraved with scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The present whereabouts of these cabinets are unknown, however signed examples are in the collections of the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, (see M. Riccardi-Cubitt, The Art of the Cabinet, London, 1992, fig. 21-22, p. 49) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (see A. González-Palacios, Il Tempo del Gusto, Roma E Il Regno Delle Due Sicilie, Milan, 1984, fig. XXVII, pp. 201, 239-240). An ebony and ivory casket with closely related engraved ivory panels and signed 'jo: bap de curtis faciebat' was sold Christie's London 7 December 1993, lot 69. The attribution of this lot is based on these signed cabinets.