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Lot Essay
This splendid cabinet-on-chest is one of the richest known examples of the distinctive interpretation of the rococo idiom by cabinet-makers in what is now Altona, an area near Hamburg formerly part of Denmark. A group of closely related cabinets from Altona is illustrated in A. Kratz, Altonae Möbel Des Rokoko Und Klassizismus, Hamburg, 1988, figs. 4-10.
The present lot is firmly attributable to Matthias Ortmann, who florished between 1733 and 1757 (using a cabinet-maker label between 1745 and 1757). Two incredibly closely-related cabinets-on-chests by Ortmann are illustrated by T. Clemmensen, Mobler paa Clausholm, Langeso og Holstenshuus, Copenhagen, 1946, p.42, fig.40, and p.43, fig.41, while another, of simpler form and decoration, with Ortmann's label, is illustrated in T. Clemmensen et al, Kobenhavns Snedkerlaug Gennem Fire Hundrede Ar, 1554-1954, Copenhagen, 1954, p.223, fig. 13.
The present lot is firmly attributable to Matthias Ortmann, who florished between 1733 and 1757 (using a cabinet-maker label between 1745 and 1757). Two incredibly closely-related cabinets-on-chests by Ortmann are illustrated by T. Clemmensen, Mobler paa Clausholm, Langeso og Holstenshuus, Copenhagen, 1946, p.42, fig.40, and p.43, fig.41, while another, of simpler form and decoration, with Ortmann's label, is illustrated in T. Clemmensen et al, Kobenhavns Snedkerlaug Gennem Fire Hundrede Ar, 1554-1954, Copenhagen, 1954, p.223, fig. 13.