Lot 131
131
VARIOUS PROPERTIES
A SOUTH GERMAN RENAISSANCE ASH, SYCAMORE, STAINED FRUITWOOD AND MARQUETRY TABLE-CABINET

Details
A SOUTH GERMAN RENAISSANCE ASH, SYCAMORE, STAINED FRUITWOOD AND MARQUETRY TABLE-CABINET
SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, AUGSBURG

With rectangular inlaid top, sides and back, the front fitted with a pair of cabinet doors opening to reveal an architectural interior with an assortment of fifteen drawers decorated with stylized ruins and elaborate scroll work, flanked by Corinthian columns and urns of flowers and centrally fitted with a cupboard door inlaid with a musician within a landscape, and enclosing an open compartment, the sides mounted with carrying handles, losses and replacements
19in. (48cm.) high, 24½in. (62cm.) wide, 14¾in. (37.5cm.) deep

Lot Essay

This lot belongs to an extensive group of South German furniture inlaid with stylized ruins and elaborate scrollwork defining space and perspective. The distinctive 'Ruinenarchitektur' marquetry is believed to be based on etchings executed by Léonard Thiry and Jacques Du Cerceau in 1550, as well as on the Geometria und Perspektiva etlicher zerbrochener Gebew, a design book of drawings published in 1567 by Augsburg cabinetmaker Lorenz Stöer (see H. Kreisel, Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels, 1986, vol. I, pp. 85-87).