A DUTCH OLIVEWOOD, ROSEWOOD, EBONY, EBONIZED, OYSTER VENEERED AND FRUITWOOD MARQUETRY CABINET-ON-STAND

This cabinet also known as a Sterkabinet because of its star shaped motifs, is a product of the changing fashion towards the end of the 17th century, the cabinet itself is no longer a vessel for sculptural and shaped ornament but has turned into a canvas for highly complex marquetry and parquetry designs. The rectangular cupboard raised on stand was produced with a huge variation of decorative schemes ranging from the pictorial "still life" marquetry of van Meekeren, to quite plain examples. Another so-called sterkabinet with virtually indentical marquetry doors is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and illustrated in Dr. Anne Berendsen, Het Meubel, van Gothiek tot Biedermeier, Utrecht, 1949, p. 149, Afb. 148 and in Prof. Willem van der Pluym, Vijf eeuwen binnenhuis en meubels in Nederland 1450-1950, Amsterdam, 1954, p. 83, Afb. 81.