A NORTH GERMAN WALNUT, FIGURED-WALNUT AND SNAKEWOOD CUPBOARD, FASSADENSCHRANK

This cupboard is unusual for the large amount of the exotic snakewood veneer used. Snakewood is one of the hardest woods extant, and was imported from South America from the 17th century onwards. The main port of entry for this wood into Germany was Hamburg.

The gilt-embossed paper lining is in the manner of Georg Christoph Stoy (1670 - 1750), one of the most important manufacturers of this type of paper. On the 7th of January 1709 he received the Emperor's privilege. The manufacture of gilt embossed paper is known since the 15th Century, and was produced untill the 18th Century, when it enjoyed its greatest popularity. It was mainly used to line book bindings, but also to line the interior of furniture, and even as wall-paper where it formed a cheaper alternative to gilt embossed leather. There are several stamped examples of Stoy's work in the Olga Hirsch collection of Decorated papers in the British Library and in the Bavarian state library in Munich.

Cf. A. Haemmerle, Buntpapier, Herkommen - Geschichte - Techniken - Beziehungen zur Kunst, Munich, 1977.
J.F. Heybrok, Sierpapier, The Hague, 1994.