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Lot Essay
Though Antwerp was well-known as center for the production of luxurious collector's cabinets in very similar forms, the use of olivewood as well as interior drawers with wheel-engraved mirrors indicates this cabinet was part of a small group made in the Northern Netherlands. The understated luxury of the olivewood veneer gives way to a display of the technical virtuosity of the cabinetmaker. Mirrors etched with Roman mythological scenes interact with architectural marquetry. The sophisticated placement of mirrors creates the illusion of endless rooms and entire buildings, which often hide secret drawers.
An almost identical cabinet in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, illustrated here, displays the same arrangement of etched mirrored drawers surrounding a central architectural interior and is almost certainly produced by the same workshop; the only difference is the mirror panels on the Rijksmuseum example depict ships, not Roman myths. As early as 1708, an advertisement in the September 15th issue of the Amsterdamsche Courant mentions 'A handsome cabinet of olive wood, with 15 drawers, all at the front with very skillfully engraved mirrors inside and with an incomparable and endless perspective' was auctioned in Amsterdam. ( R. Baarsen, Dutch Furniture, 1600-1800, Amsterdam, 1993, p.52-53 )
An almost identical cabinet in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, illustrated here, displays the same arrangement of etched mirrored drawers surrounding a central architectural interior and is almost certainly produced by the same workshop; the only difference is the mirror panels on the Rijksmuseum example depict ships, not Roman myths. As early as 1708, an advertisement in the September 15th issue of the Amsterdamsche Courant mentions 'A handsome cabinet of olive wood, with 15 drawers, all at the front with very skillfully engraved mirrors inside and with an incomparable and endless perspective' was auctioned in Amsterdam. ( R. Baarsen, Dutch Furniture, 1600-1800, Amsterdam, 1993, p.52-53 )