A NORTH ITALIAN IVORY, MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND PEWTER INLAID WALNUT BUREAU CABINET

VENETO OR LOMBARDY, FIRST HALF 18TH CENTURY

Details

A NORTH ITALIAN IVORY, MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND PEWTER INLAID WALNUT BUREAU CABINET
Veneto or Lombardy, first half 18th Century
Inlaid overall with grotesques, masks, trailing foliage and simulated panels framed by bamboo, the open scrolling pediment with a moulded and scroll-carved cornice decorated with a classically draped maiden above a pair of doors with arched mirrors enclosing an interior fitted with four shelves, the bureau section with a sloping fall-front inlaid with an exotic animal mask flanked by further masks, foliage and a classically drapped maiden to either side, enclosing an interior fitted with four drawers around a central cupboard, above three graduated-serpentine fronted drawers, the arches inlaid with urns within temple motifs, above a shaped apron and on short cabriole legs terminating in claw and ball feet, restorations to the veneers, the cabinet section and the drawers lined in cream-coloured silk.
89 in. (226 cm.) high; 36 in. (92 cm.) wide; 21 in. (53 cm.) deep

Lot Essay

While the shape of this bureau cabinet is clearly Venetian, most of the documented ivory and mother-of-pearl-inlaid pieces executed during the first half 18th Century in Venice have a simpler decoration scheme, often only consisting of entwined floral sprays. This very richly-inlaid bureau-cabinet reflects the best inlay work executed by skilled intarsiatori such as Sebastiano Novale at the beginning of the 18th Century.
The ivory and mother-of-pearl inlay on this bureau cabinet is closely related to that found on a bureau cabinet in the collection of the Marquess of Bath at Longleat, in the Prince of Wales bedroom, illustrated in S. Morris, 'Lives of Bath', The Antique Collector, December/January 1993/1994, p. 34.
A further related bureau cabinet is illustrated in S. Colombo, l'Arte del Mobile in Italia, Milan, 1975, pl.213.
Other related bureau cabinets include:-
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's New York, 27 March 1993, lot 244
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's New York, 20 March 1998, lot 318 ($ 145,500).

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