Details
Main content
-
Details of object number: M-0039a
Object name:Cabinet cupboard
Production date:1690 — 1699
Production period:Ende 17. Jahrhundert
Description:Rectangular body of ebonised pearwood. Brass fittings in rocaille and floral shapes across the entire front. Finishing in the form of an openwork brass gallery crowned by six lance-bearing brass warrior figures. Nine drawers divided into compartments edged with flamed moulding decoration, lined with ivory and tortoiseshell. Each has an engraved ivory plate in the centre with various depictions, mainly of animals in landscape settings (in addition to deer, foxes, hares and hunting dogs there are also various exotic animals, such as elephants and monkeys), but also several coastal views with people in boats. Keyholes with rocaille-like brass fittings. Central door compartment with architectural depiction, inlaid in ivory and tortoiseshell, of a baroque portal with four twisted columns. Wooden inlays with a geometrical pattern on both the outer sides of the body and on the inside of the central door.
Hist. crit. notes:The selection of cabinet cupboards dating from the 16th and 17th centuries represents a remarkable special collection in the estate of Franz Fromm. In the course of his collecting activities, which began in Barcelona in the 1880s, this Prussian-born wine merchant was able to collect over a dozen examples from various sources that clearly illustrate the development history of this type of furniture. The portable writing cabinet, the so-called “bargueño”, for example, bears witness to its origins in the Moorish carpentry of the late Middle Ages.
During the Renaissance, the type spread from Spain to other European art centres. In the process its function changed noticeably, from an item of furniture used for writing to a prestigious repository for smaller works of art, jewellery or other curiosities, very much in the spirit of the then-emerging chambers of art and of curiosities. In addition to the elimination of the writing flap, one further result was the increasingly elaborate use of decorations and inlays of precious materials, such as ebony, ivory or tortoiseshell. Pictorial representations with a historical, mythological or allegorical content also served to convey the humanist world view of the collectors.
Augsburg was considered to be one of the most important production centres for such items in the German-speaking world: relevant examples also appear in Fromm’s collection.
Theis example from Franz Fromm’s collection is one of several originating from the Spanish Netherlands in the late 17th century. One special feature is the existence of two almost identical cabinets, exhibited as a “twin pair” as evidenced by a 1913 photograph taken in the salon of Rametz Castle. The ensemble today can be admired in the green salon of the Villa Freischütz, although a closer look reveals subtle differences in the decor. Particular attention should be paid to the 26 engraved ivory plates adorning the individual drawers, all of which differ from the rest: their depictions of various wild animals in landscape settings, hunting scenes and coastal views with fishing boats all correspond to the artistic tastes of the time. The example clearly shows how this item of furniture is used beyond its actual function and as a medium, thus itself becoming a collector’s item.
During the Renaissance, the type spread from Spain to other European art centres. In the process its function changed noticeably, from an item of furniture used for writing to a prestigious repository for smaller works of art, jewellery or other curiosities, very much in the spirit of the then-emerging chambers of art and of curiosities. In addition to the elimination of the writing flap, one further result was the increasingly elaborate use of decorations and inlays of precious materials, such as ebony, ivory or tortoiseshell. Pictorial representations with a historical, mythological or allegorical content also served to convey the humanist world view of the collectors.
Augsburg was considered to be one of the most important production centres for such items in the German-speaking world: relevant examples also appear in Fromm’s collection.
Theis example from Franz Fromm’s collection is one of several originating from the Spanish Netherlands in the late 17th century. One special feature is the existence of two almost identical cabinets, exhibited as a “twin pair” as evidenced by a 1913 photograph taken in the salon of Rametz Castle. The ensemble today can be admired in the green salon of the Villa Freischütz, although a closer look reveals subtle differences in the decor. Particular attention should be paid to the 26 engraved ivory plates adorning the individual drawers, all of which differ from the rest: their depictions of various wild animals in landscape settings, hunting scenes and coastal views with fishing boats all correspond to the artistic tastes of the time. The example clearly shows how this item of furniture is used beyond its actual function and as a medium, thus itself becoming a collector’s item.
Material:pearwood
tortoiseshell
ivory
tortoiseshell
ivory
Dimensions:
- width: 100 cm
depth: 32.3 cm
height: 60.8 cm
Institution:Villa Freischütz