A DUTCH SATINWOOD, ROSEWOOD, FRUITWOOD AND BLACK AND GILT JAPANNED SECRETAIRE A ABATTANT

This elegant secretaire a abattant reflects the English influence on Dutch cabinet-making, between circa 1780-1795, when light satinwood and light exotic veneers and refined marquetry decoration became fashionable. Typically Dutch is the combination of this type of marquetry with Japanese, Chinese or imitation lacquer panels, and may have been a speciality of cabinet-makers working in The Hague, where novelties in furniture-making were often first developed. The celebrated Hague cabinet-maker Matthijs Horrix (1735-1809) was possibly responsible for the introduction of this daring new type of decoration. Horrix, who became Mr Kabinetwerker in 1764, was the principal supplier of furniture to the Stadtholder's Court between 1767 and 1795. He received a commission from Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia - the Stadtholder's consort who admired Horrix's work - in 1780 for '...Comodes wozu ihm Chinesisch Lackwerk geliefert', for which he received 557 florins.
See R.J. Baarsen, 'Matthijs Horrix: Cabinetmaker in The Hague, The Magazine Antiques 154 (1998), pp. 520-528. The interest in Japanese and Chinese lacquer by Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia is described in Jan van Campen De Haagse Jurist Jean Theodore Royer (1737-1807) en zijn verzameling Chinese voorwerpen, Hilversum, 1990, p. 219-212.