ATTRIBUTED TO MICHIEL VERBIEST AND PETER DE LOOSE, ANTWERP, CIRCA 1690

This superb copper, brass, pewter and mother-of-pearl inlaid tortoiseshell table top is attributable to the leading Antwerp ebony worker Michiel Verbiest or 'Verbist' (fl. circa 1648-1689) and engraver Peter de Loose, on the basis of a closely related example signed and dated 'Pieter de Looze sculpsit 1689 Antwerpen' and 'Michel Verbist fecit 1689', now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Baarsen, op.cit., p.34, fig 41 and reproduced here). The Rijksmuseum example - which features the coat-of-arms of the Neuf van Eversdijk family - is similarly inlaid with large strapwork bands or volutes which delineate reserves of engraved scrolling foliage, winged putti and exotic birds. Although the Rijksmuseum table top appears to be the only recorded example signed by Verbiest and de Loose, Thibaut Wolvesperges identifies two further related examples attributable to Verbiest (Wolvesperges, op.cit., p.50, fig. 42 and pp 142-145), one of which sold from 'The Collection de Son Altesse Le Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan', Sotheby's, Monaco, 28-29 October 1979, lot 61.

Also reminiscent of the elaborate and distinctive ornamentation of the present top are several marquetry panels from cabinets and tables executed by Johann Georg Esser of Augsburg (fl.1652-1727) and the lesser known Wolfbauer in the collections of the Munich Residenz, most of which commissioned directly by the Kurfürst Max Emanuel (r.1680-1726), illustrated in B. Langer, die Möbel der Residenz München, vol. II, 1996, pp. 82-93 (see particularly p.82 fig.9 for closely related cartouches with coat-of-arms-bearing winged putti).