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Lot Essay
This splendid cabinet presents the flourishing of both the Neapolitan and Carolean baroque and is a rare example of signed reverse-glass-painted panels from Italy on a finely-carved English stand of grand proportions. Relating to a number of Neapolitan cabinets in English collections, the cabinets were acquired by travelling milords on the Grand Tour. This cabinet was likely acquired by a member of the Hawtrey family for Chequers, Buckinghamshire and was subsequently in the collection of Lord Lee of Fareham who in 1917 gave the house to the nation to be the prime ministerial retreat.
With brightly and intricately painted verre eglomisé panels set within an ebony case with gilt-bronze ornamentation, this cabinet relates to a number of cabinets executed in the city of Naples in the early 17th century. A pair of cabinets of much larger scale but with closely related form, similarly painted scenes, and closely related and in some cases identical mounts are currently preserved in Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire and were acquired by Sir Thomas Isham, 3rd Baronet (1656-1681) for the hall during his grand tour in the 1670s. The presence of these cabinets, and another two in Doddington Hall, Lincolnshire indicates the prestige and desirability of such pieces as art treasures acquired on the Grand Tour by the English gentry. The present cabinet was already in the collections of Chequers, Buckinghamshire in 1909 when it was first leased and later acquired by Lord Lee of Fareham from the Hawtrey family. An article on Chequers in country life in 1917 mentions the cabinet being endemic to the house’s collection and suggests it was acquired on the grand tour and matched to an English stand of the same period, most probably by Robert Croke, the owner of Chequers in the third quarter of the 17th century.
The Carolean giltwood stand is a testament to the excellence of English carving in this period and relates to a number of other stands conceived for the enhancement and presentation of costly cabinets, often imported from abroad. With sumptuously modelled cabriole legs, dense foliage, and carved putti of various sizes, the stand on the present lot is a fine and unusually large example of its type. A related stand of smaller form with related foliage, legs, and putti to the apron, conceived for a Japanned cabinet is currently preserved in Chastleton House, Oxfordshire, (NT 1429997) while a stand of comparable size, with related form, legs and putti decoration was conceived to support a magnificent pietra dura cabinet gifted by Cosimo III Medici to the 5th Earl of Exeter and is currently preserved in Burghley House, Lincolnshire. A further giltwood stand of related decoration, construction and form, supporting an Italian pietra dura cabinet is preserved in Milton Hall, Cambridgeshire.
With some panels signed ‘VBL’ the verre eglomisé painting can be attributed to Vittorio Billa, an artisan working as early as 1635 in Naples who is recorded as providing panels for cabinets like the present lot. A series of related reverse glass paintings in the Museo Civico of Turin, as well as another group of six closely related reverse glass panels of which one bears the initials 'VBL' is illustrated and discussed in A. González-Palacios, Il Gusto dei Principi, vol. II, Milan, 1993, pp. 116-117, ill. 198/201/202. A certain number of painters on glass were active in Naples as early as 1625. Various bills dated 1635 for glass paintings per la pittura di cristalli of panels to be set on table cabinets were issued by Vittorio Billa and it could be assumed that the signature 'VBL' corresponds to this artist.
A number of cabinets related to the present lot are known, with several of them preserved in Spanish collections. With Naples and Spain under the same ruler, Neapolitan pieces found popularity with the Spanish aristocracy as well as with English visitors. Related cabinets with reverse-glass painted panels include:
A cabinet in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome. Illustrated Tempio del Gusto, II, fig. 384.
A Cabinet in the Palace of Peralada, Gerona (illustrated in Sotheby's, London, 18 November 2009, lot 322).
A pair of cabinets in the collection of Marquess de Campo-Franco, Palma de Mallorca, illus. Luis Feduchi, Historia de los Estilos del Mueble Español, figs. 296 and 297.
Two cabinets at Doddington Hall, said to have come from Naples in the 1820s.
A cabinet in the Dubrovnik Museum.
Two cabinets in the Son-Veri collection, Palma de Mallorca, illustrated by Feduchi, op. cit., figs 299 and 300.
A cabinet in the Palacio de Vivó, Palma de Mallorca, illustrated by Feduchi, op. cit., fig. 301.
A cabinet in Palazzo Pitti, Florence.
A cabinet in the Rome antique trade, illustrated Tempio del Gusto, II, fig. 385.
A pair of cabinets sold Sotheby's, London, 18 May 1984, lot 54.
A pair of cabinets sold Sotheby's, London, 30 November 1990, lot 45.
A pair of cabinets offered for sale in 1994 by Pelham Galleries, London, carved with the crowned, double-headed eagles of the Habsburgs. The brochure advertising them suggested that this indicated a commission for King Charles II (1661-1700, reigned from 1665), the last Habsburg king of Spain.
A cabinet sold Sotheby's, London, 18 November 2009, lot 322.
A cabinet sold Sotheby's, London, 1 October 2010, lot 25.
A cabinet with painted glass panels with views of Rome, sold Sotheby's, London, 2 November 2011, lot 117.
A cabinet of similar form but veneered with tortoiseshell, sold Sotheby's, London, 2 November 2011, lot 119.
With brightly and intricately painted verre eglomisé panels set within an ebony case with gilt-bronze ornamentation, this cabinet relates to a number of cabinets executed in the city of Naples in the early 17th century. A pair of cabinets of much larger scale but with closely related form, similarly painted scenes, and closely related and in some cases identical mounts are currently preserved in Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire and were acquired by Sir Thomas Isham, 3rd Baronet (1656-1681) for the hall during his grand tour in the 1670s. The presence of these cabinets, and another two in Doddington Hall, Lincolnshire indicates the prestige and desirability of such pieces as art treasures acquired on the Grand Tour by the English gentry. The present cabinet was already in the collections of Chequers, Buckinghamshire in 1909 when it was first leased and later acquired by Lord Lee of Fareham from the Hawtrey family. An article on Chequers in country life in 1917 mentions the cabinet being endemic to the house’s collection and suggests it was acquired on the grand tour and matched to an English stand of the same period, most probably by Robert Croke, the owner of Chequers in the third quarter of the 17th century.
The Carolean giltwood stand is a testament to the excellence of English carving in this period and relates to a number of other stands conceived for the enhancement and presentation of costly cabinets, often imported from abroad. With sumptuously modelled cabriole legs, dense foliage, and carved putti of various sizes, the stand on the present lot is a fine and unusually large example of its type. A related stand of smaller form with related foliage, legs, and putti to the apron, conceived for a Japanned cabinet is currently preserved in Chastleton House, Oxfordshire, (NT 1429997) while a stand of comparable size, with related form, legs and putti decoration was conceived to support a magnificent pietra dura cabinet gifted by Cosimo III Medici to the 5th Earl of Exeter and is currently preserved in Burghley House, Lincolnshire. A further giltwood stand of related decoration, construction and form, supporting an Italian pietra dura cabinet is preserved in Milton Hall, Cambridgeshire.
With some panels signed ‘VBL’ the verre eglomisé painting can be attributed to Vittorio Billa, an artisan working as early as 1635 in Naples who is recorded as providing panels for cabinets like the present lot. A series of related reverse glass paintings in the Museo Civico of Turin, as well as another group of six closely related reverse glass panels of which one bears the initials 'VBL' is illustrated and discussed in A. González-Palacios, Il Gusto dei Principi, vol. II, Milan, 1993, pp. 116-117, ill. 198/201/202. A certain number of painters on glass were active in Naples as early as 1625. Various bills dated 1635 for glass paintings per la pittura di cristalli of panels to be set on table cabinets were issued by Vittorio Billa and it could be assumed that the signature 'VBL' corresponds to this artist.
A number of cabinets related to the present lot are known, with several of them preserved in Spanish collections. With Naples and Spain under the same ruler, Neapolitan pieces found popularity with the Spanish aristocracy as well as with English visitors. Related cabinets with reverse-glass painted panels include:
A cabinet in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome. Illustrated Tempio del Gusto, II, fig. 384.
A Cabinet in the Palace of Peralada, Gerona (illustrated in Sotheby's, London, 18 November 2009, lot 322).
A pair of cabinets in the collection of Marquess de Campo-Franco, Palma de Mallorca, illus. Luis Feduchi, Historia de los Estilos del Mueble Español, figs. 296 and 297.
Two cabinets at Doddington Hall, said to have come from Naples in the 1820s.
A cabinet in the Dubrovnik Museum.
Two cabinets in the Son-Veri collection, Palma de Mallorca, illustrated by Feduchi, op. cit., figs 299 and 300.
A cabinet in the Palacio de Vivó, Palma de Mallorca, illustrated by Feduchi, op. cit., fig. 301.
A cabinet in Palazzo Pitti, Florence.
A cabinet in the Rome antique trade, illustrated Tempio del Gusto, II, fig. 385.
A pair of cabinets sold Sotheby's, London, 18 May 1984, lot 54.
A pair of cabinets sold Sotheby's, London, 30 November 1990, lot 45.
A pair of cabinets offered for sale in 1994 by Pelham Galleries, London, carved with the crowned, double-headed eagles of the Habsburgs. The brochure advertising them suggested that this indicated a commission for King Charles II (1661-1700, reigned from 1665), the last Habsburg king of Spain.
A cabinet sold Sotheby's, London, 18 November 2009, lot 322.
A cabinet sold Sotheby's, London, 1 October 2010, lot 25.
A cabinet with painted glass panels with views of Rome, sold Sotheby's, London, 2 November 2011, lot 117.
A cabinet of similar form but veneered with tortoiseshell, sold Sotheby's, London, 2 November 2011, lot 119.