A GERMAN BAROQUE FRUITWOOD, SYCAMORE, STAINED WOOD AND MARQUETRY TABLETOP CABINET

PROBABLY AUGSBURG OR NUREMBURG, LATE 16TH CENTURY

細節

A GERMAN BAROQUE FRUITWOOD, SYCAMORE, STAINED WOOD AND MARQUETRY TABLETOP CABINET
Probably Augsburg or Nuremburg, late 16th century
Of rectangular form, the top and sides with central panel surrounded with opposing stylized anthenia to each side, above a pair of similarly panelled doors inlaid with a song bird and parrot resting on a leafy branch, the inside of each door with an arched reserve depicting a song bird, goat, boar and hunting dog to one side and a wolf, parrot, stag and unicorn to the other, the interior an arrangement of two long drawers above a central door inlaid with Orpheus playing his harp, flanked to either side by two small drawers and above a single long drawer fronted as two drawers, each of the interior drawer fronts inlaid with wild animals before a cityscape, originally with bun feet
12½in. (32cm.) high, 16½in. (42cm.) wide, 11in. (28cm.) deep

拍品專文

This form of small and portable table cabinet which was uses as a means of storing valuables has its roots in the Spanish vargueño, transported into central Europe under the Hapsburg influence. Augsburg and Nuremburg were the centers of production of these cabinets, which are part of an extensive group of similarly decorated furniture from Swabia, Bavaria, and Tirol, all inlaid with characteristic marquetry of stylized ruins, scrollwork, and architectural scenes. This distinctive 'Ruinenarchitektur' marquetry is believed to be based on etchings executed by Leonard Thiry and Ducerceau 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.1, pp. 85-87.) Several cabinets with similar marquetry are illustrated in Kriesel op. cit., fig's. 214-221. A closely related small table cabinet having a fall-front instead of a pair of doors, is illustrated in Schatzkästchen und Kabinettschrank, exh. cat. Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, Berlin, 1989, no. 13, pp. 112-113.