Cabinet à poser avec motifs floraux en laque.... Lot n° 15

A rare Flemish inlaid lacquer table cabinet, in the Italian 'scagliola' style. Antwerp, second half of the 17th century. Body in oak and rosewood. In the shape of a rectangular box, the edges rounded with inlay work of light rosewood and bone. On the front, one large and seven small drawers finished with ebony ripple-cut borders. On the three sides and the top inlaid lacquer decoration in the shape of scrolling foliage and flowers. Lid and drawer fronts in the centre set with octagonal on one side and lobed inlay of red-tinted tortoise shell veneer. The centre of each drawer front is applied with a gilded brass ornamented lock plate. During the 16th- and 17th century in Flanders fine arts and the creation of luxurious decorative goods blossomed. With well-established port of Antwerp became an important transit region in Europe for the export of local works of art and artisan products and the import of luxury products and valuables. Especially desirable were the highly ornamental lacquer boxes and cabinets imported from the Orient, richly inlaid with rare woods and intricate mother-of-pearl motives. As the demand for these sumptuous items increased, Flemish craftsmen – especially in the city of Antwerp – mastered the skills and techniques of lacquer work and created their own tradition, resulting in a unique form of Flemish lacquer art. These artists didn't merely imitate the Oriental lacquer decoration but designed a particular and unequalled lacquer style, of which the present table cabinet is a fine and rare example. The lacquer technique consists of applying a coloured substance of lacquer made out of a blend of bees' wax, shellac or other various colouring agents and tiny fragments of marble and mother-of-pearl. When polished, the surface with its scattered chips of marble and mother-of-pearl. 39.5 x 66 x 31 cm Lit.: T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble en Belgique, 1500-1800, Brussels, 2000, p. 126-127, figs. 28, 29, 20.