An ebony cabinet

An ebony cabinet

Of rectangular outline, with caddy top, the canted plinth supporting turned columns flanking two panelled doors with ripple mouldings and pierced stylized brass lock plates, the swept-up roof cover hinged at the back and embellished with conforming mouldings, opening to reveal an interior with small central mirror, flanked by two plaques engraved with personifications of Hope [ESPES] and Faith [FIDES], the top with a hidden low compartment covered by a sliding plank, surrounded by ripple moulds, the lower structure with an interior fitted with a semi-circular walled central compartment, a so-called perspectiefje (perspective) surmounted by a broken pediment topped by an urn finial, resting on two moulded arched columns on checkered pseudo-tile floor, flanked by two large drawers with engraved oval panels, respectively representing a figure of Summer (Ceres) and Winter (Saint Anne and Joachim),  above two rows of small drawers variant in size, the whole adorned with silver plaques with small oval panels with representations of love, amongst foliate scrollwork and rosettes, applied with brass pulling knobs, the interior of the doors with a plaquette representing respectively Charitas (Love) and Faith, within a silver scroll and foliate border, the whole raised on compressed ball feet.

This small cabinet was manufactured in Antwerp. Small cabinets such as this were presumably meant to store jewellery and other valuables. From the depictions on the plaques we may conclude it was made for use by a woman.

Antwerp was the international center in which small and costly cabinets and caskets were manufactured during the 17th century. It took over this role from Augsburg, Bavaria, which was the international centre for silver- and goldsmithery during the 16th century. The cabinets, in various sizes, were decorated in different manners: we know examples with painted panels, inlays of tortoiseshell and brass, with embroideries in silk on the drawers or, as in the present casket, with silver linings and plaques. They were put on a stand or were made as a table model, such as this cabinet, and they were ordered by Antwerp dealers to sell them to wealthy inhabitants of the harbour city. They were, however, also an export product. In their invoices there is mentioning of cantoren, scribaenen of cabinetten [offices, writing cases or cabinets].

The decorations were not in the hands of the ebony woodworker, but were commissioned to a painter, a silversmith or embroidery studio. Most of such small cabinets were embellished with silver mounts and plaques. The silver plates were so thin that they never weighed more than 0,37 grs each. This is why according to the Antwerp guild regulations these pieces did not need to be inspected, hence they are never marked. Therefore these pieces cannot be attributed to a specific silversmith.

A comparable table cabinet is kept in the collection of the Rockoxhouse, Antwerp, containing 14 silver plaques, with engravings  in style similar to the present object. Possibly this piece is originating from the same silversmith’s workshop. Also the dimensions are nearly identical and the central perspective compartment also has two arches in the front. The other cabinet has a frontal fall-flap instead of two doors. As far as we know the silversmith used the same prints as an example for his engravings. These prints, possibly after Hans Janssen, were often contemporary copies of slightly older prints, which are no longer extant.