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Lot Essay
This armoire is conceived in the last phase of the development of Dutch Neoclassical furniture, between circa 1780 and 1795. It demonstrates a fusion of foreign taste, whereby English influences gradually overshadowed those from France. This English influx was probably stimulated by the spread of printed furniture designs.
It is interesting that during this English-inspired phase of marquetry furniture, with a preference for light woods and simplified geometric motifs, Dutch cabinet-makers often enriched their pieces with panels of Japanese and Chinese lacquer as well as japanning. Reinier Baarsen has suggested that this type of decoration may have been a speciality of cabinet-makers working in The Hague, and may in fact have been introduced by the celebrated cabinet-maker Matthijs Horrix (1735-1809), who supplied Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, wife of Stadholder Prince William V, with '...Comodes wozu ihm Chinesich Lackwerck geliefert', as early as 1780, for which he received 557 florins (R. J. Baarsen, 'In de commode van Parijs tot Den Haag', Mattijs Horrix (1735-1809), een meubelmaker in Den Haag in de 2de helft van de 18de eeuw', Oud Holland 107 (1993), p. 176).
It is interesting that during this English-inspired phase of marquetry furniture, with a preference for light woods and simplified geometric motifs, Dutch cabinet-makers often enriched their pieces with panels of Japanese and Chinese lacquer as well as japanning. Reinier Baarsen has suggested that this type of decoration may have been a speciality of cabinet-makers working in The Hague, and may in fact have been introduced by the celebrated cabinet-maker Matthijs Horrix (1735-1809), who supplied Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, wife of Stadholder Prince William V, with '...Comodes wozu ihm Chinesich Lackwerck geliefert', as early as 1780, for which he received 557 florins (R. J. Baarsen, 'In de commode van Parijs tot Den Haag', Mattijs Horrix (1735-1809), een meubelmaker in Den Haag in de 2de helft van de 18de eeuw', Oud Holland 107 (1993), p. 176).