Cabinet
Southern Germany (?), approx. 1600
Dimensions: 79 x 82 x 45 cm (w x h x d)
Body: fir/spruce, oak, walnut
Profiles: ebony, oak, pernambuco, beech
Marquetry: maple (partly stained), apple, pear, barberry, ebony, ash, pernambuco, walnut, olive, poplar, ivory, bone, mother-of-pearl
Fittings: iron, fire-gilded iron, fire-gilded brass (carrying handles)
Inv. No. A1451
Located in the centre of the MAKK’s Renaissance Hall, this striking cabinet is an absolute masterpiece of furniture design. Its entire body, doors, cover, drawers and shelves are decorated with the finest geometrical and figurative marquetry.
The term ‘marquetry’ refers to a veneering technique that differs from intarsia in that the surface pattern is not set into the base material but is glued on top in one jigsaw puzzle-like piece. The figurative scenes with their delicate lines are particularly stunning.
The inside of the cabinet’s doors and the fronts of the drawers feature geometrical imagery: the many different polyhedra not only point to their creators’ advanced knowledge of, and skills in, perspective but also to the superior education of the client, who will most likely have been a member of the highest aristocratic circles, which is also suggested by the figurative representation of a couple in court dress (Spanish fashion).
