German Intarsia Cabinet on Ebonised Stand

Circa 1620 Augsburg or Coburg

Width 31” (79cm) Depth 16 1/2” (42cm) Height 21” (54cm) with base 48 ½” (123cm)

This Masterpiece of the cabinet makers art is decorated on every visible surface with fantastical perspective architectural landscapes depicting buildings, foliage, figures, animals, complex polyhedral geometric shapes and musical instruments. The rising lid reveals a compartment concealed by dummy drawer fronts and containing a further lidded compartment and a framed fantastical scene of a futuristic landscape.

In the 16th century the German craftsmen invented the fret saw which enabled them to create thicker shapes than the traditional knife cut inlaid veneers. These thicker pieces were then fitted together like a jigsaw, thus allowing the cabinet maker to create these extraordinary complex designs. As a result, they were able to indulge in the Renaissance obsession with mathematical perspective and geometry.

£25,000