Netherlands, c1620-40; oak

Three stage standing cupboard of oak, decorated with carving, marquetry of bog-oak(?) and a pale wood and inlay of bog-oak, enriched with applied ornaments of ebony. Arranged in three sections, the upper section containing three cupboards each with a lockable door, the middle section containing two cupboards with lockable doors, and the lower section containing a single large cupboard with two side-hinged doors fitted with a single lock. At the top on the sides and front is a moulded cornice, dentil band and frieze with five marquetry panels separated by carved oak consoles. On the upper section four frontal stiles/muntins are enriched with carved guilloche, split ebony turnings and buttons (4 of 8 missing) and applied strapwork. The doors of the upper and lower sections are each divided by applied mouldings into a central rectangle with scrollwork in marquetry and stringing (black against a pale ground on the upper section, reversed on the bottom section) surrounded by four L-shaped panels. The two doors of the middle section have a raised marquetry panel (pale wood on a black ground) flanked by flat strapwork with three small ebony buttons on either side (2 missing 2019). They are flanked by three stiles of ogee section, inlaid with bands of bog-oak, each one with two ebony buttons (1 missing). In the lower section the stiles (and a muntin attached to the right hand door) are carved with ornate fluting. The stiles continue to the ground as plain, rectangular front feet. The sides are panelled: the top section with two panels, the middle with one raised panel, the bottom with four.
The back is enclosed by riven oak boards, nailed in place.

Construction
Upper and middle doors: solid, the upper formed from two vertically-grained boards, the middle with two boards, horizontally-grained
Lower doors: panelled with moulded central field, left door panel is a single, wide board (vertically-grained), right door panel is formed from two boards (vertically-grained).
The sides panelled, and the top, bottom, and dust boards tongue-and-groove, running front to back.

Modifications
Both back feet tipped (38cm PL, 60cm PR), and some lower boards of the lower back patched.

Bought for £53. 12s. 7d. from Mr Martin Klop, 32 Hooge Nieuwstraat, The Hague, Holland (RF 16507/06)
Condition 'Slightly worn'; first half of the 17th century. Restored.
Mr Kendrick's visit to Holland sanctioned by Mr Morant on RP 15074/06. Bought with 618 and 619-1906 for £63. 2s. 4d. plus packing expenses etc. of £3. 14s. 3d. For reports by Messrs Skinner and Kendrick see RF 15074/06.

For context see Loek van Aalst and Annigje Hofstede, Noord- Nederlandse meubelen van renaissance tot vroege barok 1550-1670 (Houten : Hes & De Graaf Publishers, 2011) esp. p.158ff

Notes made by Judith H. Heuff, post-graduate student of Professor dr. C.W. Fock, University of Leiden, The Netherlands, 1991.
Dutch 1st half 17th century

Literature:
W. Vogelsang, Le meuble Hollandais au musee national d'Amsterdam, Den Haag 1910
Catalogus van meubelen en betimmeringen, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1913
Th.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Catalogus van meubelen en betimmeringen, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1952
Th.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, 'Vroeg 17de eeuwse Dordtse betimmeringen', Bulletin Koninklijk Nederlands Oudheidkundige Bond, jr. 5, sept. '52, pp. 143-155
S.Jervis, Printed furniture designs before 1650, Leeds 1974
'Art in seventeenth century Holland', Exhibition catalogue, National Gallery London, 1976

Condition: Parts of the ornaments are missing.
Part of the legs are renewed after damage caused by water.
The small panels with ornamental intarsia are relatively rich compared to the carving.
This type of ornamental intarsia has been popular throughout the 16th and 17th century in both The Netherlands and Germany.
E.g. the designs by Michael Zimmerman (mid. 16th century) show lots of different forms of this moreskish ornament (Spanish influence?). (S.Jervis 1974, pl. 105-118)
The different types of decoration show the influence of the designs made by Hans and Paul Vredeman de Vries.
This cupboard has a great resemblance to panelling from Dordrecht (near Rotterdam) now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, two of which are dated 1617 and 1626 (RMA cat. '52 nr. 28-29).
In respect to the arrangement of the lower part of the cupboard, two square panels and two rectangular above, it is reminiscent of the 'Zeeuwse kast' (from Zeeland, South-West Netherlands).
(C.f. Vogelsang nr. 85/ RMA cat. '13 nr. 94)
Lunsingh Scheurleer mentioned in his article about the Dordrecht panelling that there might have been a workshop of cabinet makers at Dordrecht in the first half of the 17th century. He also stated that the cabinet maker in charge of the workshop presumably came from Zeeland. He even mentioned the name of Claude Kaymax, a cabinet maker who originally came from Middelburg; he married at Dordrecht in 1622 and in 1652 became dean of the Guild of cabinet makers there. Workshops in Zeeland are known to have been very skilful in the technique of intarsia.

617:1-1906