AN ITALIAN EBONY AND EBONISED CABINET-ON-STAND

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AN ITALIAN EBONY AND EBONISED CABINET-ON-STAND
LATE 17TH CENTURY

The ripple-moulded rectangular cornice above a panelled frieze with two drawers carved in relief with Poseidon and attendant putto riding dolphins, above a pair of ripple-moulded raised, pannelled doors with a central octagonal panel, one depicting the Judgement of Solomon, the other the building of the temple at Jerusalem within a foliate engraved panelled border, the reverses with foliate panels enclosing a fitted interior with twelve ripple-moulded drawers etched with further flowers and framing a pair of raised panelled foliate etched doors, enclosing an architectural fitted interior with chequered floor and a column-supported interior with mirror panels and a balustraded parapet, the trompe l'oeil views of townscapes inlaid in ivory, green-stained fruitwood, bois satinàe and marquetry and incorporating numerous amaranth-veneered secret drawers, the writing-slide inlaid with a starburst parquetry of specimen wood, supported on a stand with ripple-moulded frieze enclosing two further drawers, above a waved, foliate-etched apron and on Solomonic column legs joined by a pierced rectangular stretcher, on bun feet, restorations and replacements, the backboards replaced, one apron carving re-attached
64in. (162.5cm.) wide; 73½in. (186.5cm.) high; 24½in. (62cm.) deep

Lot Essay

The cabinet, supported by Solomonic columns, is richly carved with sacred and profane scenes, and its octagonal bas-relief compartments commemorate Solomon. The scene on the left depicts the King of Israel surveying the building of the temple in Jerusalem, while that on the right commemorates his celebrated judgement concerning the male infant. A related cabinet from Eynsham Hall, Oxfordshire, has been tentatively attributed to the Parisian ébéniste Girard Marot (active in the 1640s) (N. Penny, Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1992, vol. II, no. 287

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