Description
This spectacular 17th-century Flemish cabinet features a finely articulated architectural façade. Veneered with tortoiseshell and ebony, and enriched with gilt brass plaques, it opens with eleven drawers arranged around two central doors. Beneath them slides out a tablet serving as a writing surface. The sides of the cabinet are inlaid with geometric marquetry. The whole rests on an elegant and finely worked stand.
The pediment is adorned with an openwork gallery, centred by a bronze figure of Athena set within an alcove.
Above the doors, a gilt bronze plaque is carved with a Nereid bearing the coat of arms of the city of Amsterdam.
The decoration is particularly rich, composed of large hearts on the doors of the interior theatre, surmounted by bust-length figures in herms, dolphins, scrolling foliate motifs, and heads of figures set within leafy crowns.
When the doors are opened, a sumptuous interior theatre is revealed, lavishly decorated and composed of twelve drawers, adorned with twisted columns reflected in mirrors. The chequered paved floor unfolds around a central star made from different wood species.
The back of the theatre reveals a partially gilt carved wooden bas-relief depicting, between two confronting eagles, two flaming hearts beneath a crowned handshake.
This cabinet was very probably commissioned for a royal marriage in the city of Amsterdam.