CIRCA 1880, WITH BLUE-CROSSED SWORDS TO THE REVERSE OF SOME PLAQUES

Details

A GERMAN GILT-METAL AND MEISSEN PORCELAIN-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD CABINET A DEUX CORPS
CIRCA 1880, WITH BLUE-CROSSED SWORDS TO THE REVERSE OF SOME PLAQUES
Decorated all over with ormolu-framed porcelain plaques, the architectural stepped pediment with hidden drawer, surmounted by a balustrade cornered by obelisks, above a pair of cupboard doors set with rectangular plaques depicting classical ruins after Jan Baptist Weenix, the reverse of both doors with portrait plaques after Nicolas de Largillire, and enclosing ten porcelain-mounted drawers with tavern scenes after David Teniers, around a secret three-sided rotating centre, fronted to each side by drawers; the coat-of-arms of Augustus II the Strong, for the city of Dresden; and tortoiseshell-veneered niches with figures, flanked by gilt-embossed white porcelain columns with Corinthian capitals, the lower section set with a porcelain-mounted writing slide, above one drawer and two doors set with a rectangular plaque classical landscape plaques to the front, and flower filled urns to the reverse, divided by porcelain columns with Corinthian capitals, on bun feet, the reverse of porcelain plaques and obelisk removed to reveal blue crossed swords; lacking two porcelain plaques, minor breaks and losses
76 in. (193 cm.) high; 42 1/3 in. (107.5 cm.) wide ; 19½ in. (49.5 cm.) deep

Literature

C. Payne, 19th Century European Furniture, Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, 1981, p. 244.

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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Lot Essay

William Oppenheim, an agent for the Meissen Porcelain Factory, exhibited a very similar ebonised cabinet profusely mounted with porcelain plaques at the 1878 Exposition Universelle, an engraving for which appeared in the Art Journal (see illustration). Not only did the journal deem the piece 'a very meritorious cabinet, largely decorated by admirable paintings on porcelain', but praised it further as a tour de force for the renowned porcelain workshop.

Similar cabinets sold Christie's Melbourne, 25 March 1997, lot 294 (AUS$184,000), an ebonised example at Sotheby's London, 16 May 1997, lot 234 (£73,000) and an example with a later painted gold carcass sold Christie's, Maria Félix: La Dona, New York, 18 July 2007, lot 539 ($312,000).

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