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Lot Essay
This jewel-like cabinet with its whimsical grotesque decoration is clearly inspired by designs of the late 17th and early 18th Century French ornemanistes, including those of Jean Bérain (d. 1711). With its arabesques, birds and dancing figures, it furthermore echoes German designs, such as the ceiling of the Salon of the Music Room at Sans Souci in Potsdam, c. 1746-48 by Karl Josef Sartori, Johann Merck and Georg Franz Ebenhech, as well as the Gilded Gallery at Charlottenburg, Berlin, completed in 1746 by the architect Georg Wenceslas Knobelsdorff and sculptor Johann August Nahl (see A. Gruber, L'art Décoratif en Europe: Classique et Baroque, Paris, 1992, pp.218-223.).
Intended to delight its owner as a miniature version of a Kunstschrank, or collector's cabinet, this piece likely derives from Augsburg, a renowned center for production of collecting cabinets which were prized not only the German Courts, but across Europe. Often presented as Royal or diplomatic gifts, these cabinets were made of costly materials such as ebony, tortoiseshell and ivory veneers, underlining the wealth, power and status of their exalted owner. Containing a collection of treasures, these full-size cabinets were admired and cherished as miracles of the craftsmens' virtuoso skills. This miniature version would have impressed onlookers as a precious and masterful reference to these larger treasure cabinets, no doubt meant to be displayed in a private Kunstkammer, or cabinet of curiosities.
A few comparable examples of small inlaid piqué tortoiseshell boxes and miniature cabinets are known of which the present cabinet is certainly the most ambitious, as none of the other examples share the small ormolu figures found on this example. A simpler miniature cabinet and casket are illustrated in the auction catalogue Collection de M. le duc de G, Paris (no date), lot 33 and 34. A piqué box with similar Bérainesque decoration was offered at Sotheby's, New York, 4 May 1985, lot 203, and another related example was offered Christie's London 1 December 2005, lot 160. A small casket from the collection of the Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild sold Christie's, London, 8 July 1999, lot 122.
Intended to delight its owner as a miniature version of a Kunstschrank, or collector's cabinet, this piece likely derives from Augsburg, a renowned center for production of collecting cabinets which were prized not only the German Courts, but across Europe. Often presented as Royal or diplomatic gifts, these cabinets were made of costly materials such as ebony, tortoiseshell and ivory veneers, underlining the wealth, power and status of their exalted owner. Containing a collection of treasures, these full-size cabinets were admired and cherished as miracles of the craftsmens' virtuoso skills. This miniature version would have impressed onlookers as a precious and masterful reference to these larger treasure cabinets, no doubt meant to be displayed in a private Kunstkammer, or cabinet of curiosities.
A few comparable examples of small inlaid piqué tortoiseshell boxes and miniature cabinets are known of which the present cabinet is certainly the most ambitious, as none of the other examples share the small ormolu figures found on this example. A simpler miniature cabinet and casket are illustrated in the auction catalogue Collection de M. le duc de G, Paris (no date), lot 33 and 34. A piqué box with similar Bérainesque decoration was offered at Sotheby's, New York, 4 May 1985, lot 203, and another related example was offered Christie's London 1 December 2005, lot 160. A small casket from the collection of the Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild sold Christie's, London, 8 July 1999, lot 122.