拍品專文
This carved ebony jewel-cabinet's triumphal façade of Doric-fluted pilasters and arched tabernacle compartments reflects the antique fashion popularised by engravings such as those issued by the Strasbourg cabinet-maker Johann Ebelmann around 1600 (S. Jervis, Printed Furniture Designs before 1650, nos 192-7). A slide conceals its jewel-compartment in the hollow-sided dome, while a mirror is incorporated in its hollow-sided base. The cabochon-enriched doors have arched-tabernacles, that are filigreed in repoussé silver tablets featuring flowered ribbon-scrolls issuing from vases; while birds are incorporated in the foliated plaquettes embellishing the plinth's concealed drawer. The flowered tablets relate to the Nuremberg goldsmith's patterns issued by Virgil Solis (d.1562).