A Spanish iron-mounted, parcel-gilt and bone inlaid walnut 'papelara'

The 17th Century Spanish cabinets of the papelera and escritorio types, which had developed from the 16th Century fall-front vargueños were very representative of the mudejar or Hispano-Moresque style. Vargueños were typically decorated with an architectural façade fitted with small ivory plaques and often embellished with bronze mounts while the papeleras, a later and more ostentatious adaptation of the vargueño, were fitted with neither a fall-front nor doors.

A comparable papelera is illustrated in Monique Riccardi-Cubitt, Le Cabinet, Paris, 1993, p. 186, cat. nr. 10.