Thomas Moore
Head of Department
Lot 39TP
An Augsburg 16th century Hungarian ash, stained sycamore and fruitwood marquetry cabinet
5 April 2017, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £15,000 inc. premium
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An Augsburg 16th century Hungarian ash, stained sycamore and fruitwood marquetry cabinet
Profusely inlaid with architectural perspectives, the rectangular top above a pair of doors enclosing a fitted interior comprising a pair of cupboard doors enclosing an open recess flanked by four small drawers to either side and two long drawers below, all surrounded by two further single cupboard doors, eight short drawers with two further drawers below and two faux drawer fronts with a single drawer behind, the reverse of the doors with figures of musicians in arcaded surrounds, the sides of the cabinet with further similar figures, restorations, the sides previously with carrying handles, with a depository label to the reverse for Royal County Depository Reading, C&G Ayres LTd, Lady Thomson-Walker. 107cm wide x 42cm deep x 64cm high, (42in wide x 16 1/2in deep x 25in high)
Footnotes
Provenance
Isabella (nee Nairn), Lady Thomson-Walker (1875-1968), daughter of Sir Michael Nairn, 1st Bt (1838-1915) and wife of Sir John Thomson-Walker (1871-1937).
The present lot is part of a group of cabinets and panels which were a product of the extraordinary ascendancy of Augsburg as a centre of furniture production for the international market from the mid-16th century onwards. In particular, the development of marquetry contributed to this prominent position, favoured by the ready availability of a large variety of indigenous woods and the invention of improved types of saws and other equipment. Augsburg marquetry of the time almost invariably depicts ruins, which are largely based on Lorenz Stöer's perspective views of ruins combined with strapwork - Geometria et Perspektiva - which was published in this city in 1567; particularly influential was his 'den Schreiner in eingelegter Arbeit dienstlich'.
One can assume that if the above cabinet originated from the collection of Lady Thomson-Walker's husband, Sir John Thomson-Walker that it may have originally been acquired as the complicated architectural perspectives linked to his avid print collecting activities. Thomson-Walker was a leading surgical consultant and was appointed Hunterial Professor of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1922. On his death he bequeathed a large collection of over two thousand prints of portraits of well known figures with medical connections and books on the art and technique of engraving to the College.
The figures of the female musicians depicted in the marquetry of the lot offered here are found on other cabinets, including a more elaborate cabinet also containing four cupboard doors to the interior in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv.BK-1955-80).
Literature
L. Möller, Der Wrangelschrank und die verwandten Süddeutschen Intarsienmöbel des 16 Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 1956.
R. Baarsen, German Furniture, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1998, pp. 6-15.
Simon Jervis, Printed Furniture Designs before 1650, England, 1974.
