Cabinet on stand
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1650 - 1670
Materials
Ebony, ebony veneer, turtleshell, ivory, brass, softwood, walnut, bone, lapis lazuli, glass
Measurements
77 x 122 x 44.5 cm
Place of origin
Antwerp
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 434874
Summary
An ebony, ebonised, turtleshell, brass mounted and bone inlaid cabinet on stand, Antwerp, circa 1650-1670. The stand later, probably replaced first half of the 19th century. The cabinet with twelve various sized drawers mounted with cabochon-shaped panels of turtleshell in foliate repousse gilt metal borders surrounding a central architectural fitted cupboard with mirrored panels and chequered floor, surrounded by eleven small drawers, all within ripple-moulded ebony borders. The stand with three drawers on twist turned legs and a shelf stretcher, turned feet. Some alteration and restoration.
Full description
Such cabinets were made in very large numbers in Antwerp during the second half of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries and in all sorts of qualities, for export throughout Europe. Antwerp was the principal centre of production, although similar examples were also made in Amsterdam during the same period. This type of furniture was known as a 'cantoor' and the use of turtle shell, brass and often ebony became standard decoration. The turtle shell was mostly imported from the West Indies and sold in Spanish and Portuguese ports. Onto the reverse of the veneer, a (vermillion) paper or parchment backing was glued to emphasise the rich colour of the shell and glue was applied to the base and the veneer pressed down using sand-filled heated cushions, the use of high relief bosses, was a speciality of Antwerp craftsmen. The brass mounts, which were not usually gilded, were clearly mass-produced by casting or stamping and do not show the fine chiselling of detail that was used to finish mounts in other cabinet-making centres such as Paris.For a similar example and for further study see: V&A collection (W.8:1 to 24-1965) (James Weedon August 2018)
Provenance
Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984.
References
Wilk, Christopher 'Western Furniture 1350 - Present Day' 1996, pp.64-65 De Kesel, Wilfried and Dhont, Greet 'Flemish 17th Century Lacquer Cabinets' Oostkamp, Stichting Baarsen 2013: Reinier Baarsen, 'Seventeenth-Century European Cabinet-Making at Ham House' in Christopher Rowell (ed.), Ham House 400 Years of Collecting and Patronage, Yale, 2013, pp.194-203 Bedingfeld, 1912: Katherine Bedingfeld. The Bedingfelds of Oxburgh. Privately printed, 1912.