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Lot Essay
This seemingly modest travelling desk at first catches the eye through the two portrait relief roundels depicting Frederik Hendrik and Amalia van Solms. These roundels were cast from, or after the models by Johannes Lutma made after engravings by W. Delff in 1626, who in turn was inspired by portraits of his father in law Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt. Examples of these roundels were cast in silver, lead and bronze.
Mr. J.W. Frederiks, De meesters der Plaquette-Penningen, 1943, pp. 30-32.
Once opened this desk reveals the beatifully decorated reverse of the lid as well as the grisaille cherub on the door centreing the arrangement of drawers. The reverse of this door bears the chronogram by which the desk can be dated to 1660. The scene on the lid depicts Artemisia drinking the ashes of her husband Maussolos mixed in her wine. Artemisia was the wife and sister of Maussolos, Satrap of Caria between 377 and 353 BC. When Maussolos died Artemisia was so griefstruck that every day she drank some of the ashes of her husband mixed in her wine so that she may become a living tomb to her dead husband. Maussolos is also the name giver of the Mausoleum, the tomb built by Artemisia for her husband in Halicarnassus, which was one of the seven wonders of the world. Like Artemisia, Amalia was a devoted widow, and she owned a painting with this scene by Gerrit van Honthorst. This painting originally placed as an overmantel decoration in Huis Ten Bosch, it is now in the Princeton University Art Museum. Obviously this scene struck a chord with Amalia's own situation. The latin text below the scene can be translated as:
Artemidem [-dam ?] cernis, sceptrum cui Caria d [dedit/dabit ?].
Behold Artemisia to whom Caria gives the sceptre (rule)
Coniugis ut cineres, mixtaque vina bibat
So that the ashes of her husband mixed with wine may be drunk
Nec mausolaeo Mausolum condit; u[t ?] ipsa
She does not even bury Maussolos in a Mausoleum, so she herself
Verus sit tumulus, viva [?]sit urna viro.
May be the true tomb, the living urn.
Quid non vera fides ? [Q]uid [?] non dilectio ? Quid non
What will not true faithfulness, or passion
Audet ... ens [?] quid non ingeniosus amor ?[?]
Dare when enamoured? Or pure/ingenious love?
Mortiuis [?] in ...a coniuge coniux [? =coniunx]
In this wife as grave, the husband
Non potuit tumulo nobiliore tegi
Could not be covered by a more noble tomb.
Frederik Hendrik (1585-1647) the youngest son of William of Orange succeeded his half brother, Prince Maurits as Stadholder in 1625. He married Amalia in 1625, under threat of disownment by brother, in spite of this the marriage was very succesfull. Amalia van Solms-Braunsfels (1602-1675) followed her mother as lady in waiting to Elisabeth Stuart the "winterqueen" of Prague, Queen of Bohemia for the winter of 1620. She arrived in the Hague with Elisabeth in 1621, and married Frederik hendrik in 1625. Under frederik hendrik and Amalia an international court was cultivated in the Hague, the couple were patrons to the Arts and comissioned several Palaces to be built, amongst which Huis ten Bosch, with its spectacular Oranjezaal, decorated by Gerrit Honthorst.
Mr. J.W. Frederiks, De meesters der Plaquette-Penningen, 1943, pp. 30-32.
Once opened this desk reveals the beatifully decorated reverse of the lid as well as the grisaille cherub on the door centreing the arrangement of drawers. The reverse of this door bears the chronogram by which the desk can be dated to 1660. The scene on the lid depicts Artemisia drinking the ashes of her husband Maussolos mixed in her wine. Artemisia was the wife and sister of Maussolos, Satrap of Caria between 377 and 353 BC. When Maussolos died Artemisia was so griefstruck that every day she drank some of the ashes of her husband mixed in her wine so that she may become a living tomb to her dead husband. Maussolos is also the name giver of the Mausoleum, the tomb built by Artemisia for her husband in Halicarnassus, which was one of the seven wonders of the world. Like Artemisia, Amalia was a devoted widow, and she owned a painting with this scene by Gerrit van Honthorst. This painting originally placed as an overmantel decoration in Huis Ten Bosch, it is now in the Princeton University Art Museum. Obviously this scene struck a chord with Amalia's own situation. The latin text below the scene can be translated as:
Artemidem [-dam ?] cernis, sceptrum cui Caria d [dedit/dabit ?].
Behold Artemisia to whom Caria gives the sceptre (rule)
Coniugis ut cineres, mixtaque vina bibat
So that the ashes of her husband mixed with wine may be drunk
Nec mausolaeo Mausolum condit; u[t ?] ipsa
She does not even bury Maussolos in a Mausoleum, so she herself
Verus sit tumulus, viva [?]sit urna viro.
May be the true tomb, the living urn.
Quid non vera fides ? [Q]uid [?] non dilectio ? Quid non
What will not true faithfulness, or passion
Audet ... ens [?] quid non ingeniosus amor ?[?]
Dare when enamoured? Or pure/ingenious love?
Mortiuis [?] in ...a coniuge coniux [? =coniunx]
In this wife as grave, the husband
Non potuit tumulo nobiliore tegi
Could not be covered by a more noble tomb.
Frederik Hendrik (1585-1647) the youngest son of William of Orange succeeded his half brother, Prince Maurits as Stadholder in 1625. He married Amalia in 1625, under threat of disownment by brother, in spite of this the marriage was very succesfull. Amalia van Solms-Braunsfels (1602-1675) followed her mother as lady in waiting to Elisabeth Stuart the "winterqueen" of Prague, Queen of Bohemia for the winter of 1620. She arrived in the Hague with Elisabeth in 1621, and married Frederik hendrik in 1625. Under frederik hendrik and Amalia an international court was cultivated in the Hague, the couple were patrons to the Arts and comissioned several Palaces to be built, amongst which Huis ten Bosch, with its spectacular Oranjezaal, decorated by Gerrit Honthorst.