Architectural Cabinet in the manner of Luca Giordano

A MONUMENTAL ARCHTECTURAL ROSEWOOD EBONY EBONISED AND TORTOISESHELL GILT BRONZE MOUNTED CABINET WITH PAINTED GLASS PANELS IN THE MANNER OF LUCA GIORDANO

THE LATER PARCEL GILT AND GILT METAL MOUNTED EBONISED STAND INCORPORATING THE ORIGINAL WAIST MOUNT.

NAPLES.  SECOND HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Restorations and some replacements including the back boards, two panels with cracks.

Overall height 74 ½” (189cm) width 72 ½” (184cm) depth 18” (46cm)

Cabinet            39”     (99cm)             68”    (173 cm)          16 ½” (42cm}

The painted panels represent Allegorical scenes from Classical Mythology. The central door with an engraved lock, flanked by a pair of spiral columns with four drawers to either side and a further drawer above and below, opens to reveal a theatre with an architectural interior incorporating 2 glass paintings,5 mirrored panels and a chequerboard bone and ebony floor.

The locks and unusually extensive gilt metal mounts are all original and of exceptional quality.

The key to the central door lock bears a crown over a shield with three fleur du lys which is likely to indicate a royal connection. The latter device represents France and the House of Bourbon. Interestingly the Bourbons became monarchs of Spain in the seventeenth century where a number of these cabinets exist in princely collections. So much so, that these cabinets were at once thought to be of Spanish origin.

There are various cabinets recorded in Palace collections including:

The Palace of Perelada, Gerona

The Palazzo Barberini, Rome

The collection of the Marquess de Campo-Franco, Palma de Mallorca

The Son-Veri collection, Mallorca.

The Palacio de Vivo, Mallorca

A Cabinet in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London