Live Auction 7764Important Early European Furniture, Sculpture & Tapestries
Christie’s roundel
Lot 277 THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 

A SPANISH COLONIAL GILT-METAL-MOUNTED, MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID TORTOISESHELL AND EBONY CABINET-ON-STAND

THE CABINET, LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY, THE EBONISED STAND SPANISH AND OF LATER DATE

Closed5 November 2009

Price Realised

GBP 43,250

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A SPANISH COLONIAL GILT-METAL-MOUNTED, MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID TORTOISESHELL AND EBONY CABINET-ON-STAND
THE CABINET, LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY, THE EBONISED STAND SPANISH AND OF LATER DATE
Inlaid overall with foliate scrolls, stylised flowerheads and strapwork, rectangular top with canted sides surrounded by a pierced cresting, above a scroll-decorated frieze, two short and one long drawers, simulating as two drawers, each side fitted with a cupboard, above a moulded base, the stand studded with masks, on turned legs joined by conforming stretchers and wrought iron stays and terminating in ball feet, with clue-border paper label to the reverse, the locks replaced
66¼ in. (168.5 cm.) high; 55½ in. (141 cm.) wide; 17¼ in. (44 cm.) deep

Castelana Subastas, Madrid, 12 February 1999.

Specialist note

Mueble enconchado, or mother-of-pearl-inlaid furniture, was a sumptuous and highly sought-after style in Colonial Latin American society, which originated in the Spanish Philippines in the early 17th century. Possibly the most celebrate piece of furniture decorated in this technique was a wedding gift for the grand-daughter of the Viceroy of Peru and is now in the Dallas Museum of Art (H. Hayward, World Furniture, New York, 1965, p. 106, fig. 371). A further relating cabinet is illustrated in J. Rishel and S. Stratton-Pruitt, The Arts in Latin America 1492-1820, 2006, pp. 491. Dated to the 18th century it is now on display in the Museo Pedro de Osma in Lima Peru.