Live Auction 2868The Decorative Arts Sale
AN ITALIAN EBONISED AND PARCEL-GILT SPECIMEN MARBLE AND MOTHER-OF-PEARL TABLE CABINET
Lot 562

AN ITALIAN EBONISED AND PARCEL-GILT SPECIMEN MARBLE AND MOTHER-OF-PEARL TABLE CABINET

VENICE OR ROME, 19TH CENTURY, RE-USING 17TH CENTURY ELEMENTS

Closed5 October 2011

Price Realised

EUR 5,250

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AN ITALIAN EBONISED AND PARCEL-GILT SPECIMEN MARBLE AND MOTHER-OF-PEARL TABLE CABINET
VENICE OR ROME, 19TH CENTURY, RE-USING 17TH CENTURY ELEMENTS
Of architectural outline depicting eight variously sized drawers flanked and divided by columns, all inlaid with panels depicting lapis lazuli, rosso antico, alabaster and jasper, the rectangular cornice with turned finials
50 cm. high x 56 cm. wide x 35 cm. deep

Specialist note

It was natural that Venice, with its extensive trade contacts with the East, should be one of the first artistic centres of Europe to imitate the fabled wares of the Orient, most particularly lacquer. This cabinet is decorated with delicate foliate gilt-japanned tendrils, inspired both by the lacquer boxes of Persia and also by the damascene work produced by Eastern metalworkers through which gold and silver were inlaid into steel in intricate patterns.

Related examples, with a comparable architectural facade and use of pietra dura panels, are in the Palazzo Quirinale, Rome (illustrated in A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Il Patrimonio Artistico del Quirinale: I Mobili Italiani, Milan, 1996, pp. 42-3) and in M. Riccardi-Cubitt, Le Cabinet, Paris, 1993, p. 75.

A comparable cabinet was sold Christie's Amsterdam, June 27, 2006, lot 112.