A MALTESE WALNUT, IVORY, FRUITWOOD AND EBONISED BUREAU BOOKCASE

EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A MALTESE WALNUT, IVORY, FRUITWOOD AND EBONISED BUREAU BOOKCASE
Early 18th Century
Crossbanded and banded overall and inlaid with cartouches framed by interlaced strapwork and depicting Berainesque scenes with playing putti and bacchic youths, the double-dome top surmounted by ball finials, above a pair of mirror doors framed by scrolling strapwork cartouches, enclosing a fitted interior with six open compartments around an arched mirrored door enclosing a plain interior with a shelf, above six short drawers, the middle section with a hinged flap enclosing a fitted interior with a conforming mirrored door and four open compartments each above a short drawer, above three short drawers and a shaped plinth, on later ball feet, restorations to the veneers
87½ in. (222 cm.) high; 40 in. (101½ cm.) wide; 22 in. (56 cm.) deep

Lot Essay

This impressive double arched bureau-cabinet is designed and embellished in the Louis XIV 'Roman' manner derived from the Oeuvres of Jean Berain (d. 1711), Dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi. It is richly filigreed and chequered with ribbon-scrolled and cartouched tablets and medallions that depict festive emblamatical figures amongst Roman acanthus. The latter include nymphs sporting on a swing, or displaying captive birds, perhaps symbolising the Element of Air, while the Element of Fire is represented by figures attending a flaming altar in a triumphal arched niche.

A closely related piece is illustrated in J. Galea-Naudi and D. Micallef, Antique Maltese Furniture, Valetta, 1989, p.47.

More from Important European Furniture

View All