Dutch Louis XV display cabinet

A Dutch display cabinet consisting of a rounded base cabinet with three drawers and a glazed upper cabinet with a single door. The door has nine windows and features walnut root veneer and walnut frames. The bevelled sides of the cabinet are also veneered with walnut root and each feature three windows encased in curving walnut frames. The door has a key plate on either side of the glazing, with the lock located behind the key plate on the left. The interior of the upper cabinet features two scalloped and curved shelves with grooves. The undulating shape of the door’s upper side is enhanced by the pediment, which follows and reinforces the door’s lines. The upper side of the pediment incorporates five plateaus for placement of a garniture set. The pediment is centrally decorated with an elaborate sculpted crest.

The diagonally oriented stiles of the lower cabinet follow and emphasise the front and sides’ rounded shape. The cabinet stands upon clawed ball feet surmounted with carvings featuring foam edges, a festoon and foliate motifs.
Below the drawers is a skirt that loosely mimics the shape of the pediment at the top of the cabinet.

This china cabinet is a good fit with a group of furniture items of which one is part of the Rijksmuseum’s collection in Amsterdam, namely a mirrored cabinet with a date letter for Amsterdam, 1764, marked on the silverwork. Another mirrored cabinet with silverwork dated 1766 and a china cabinet, both sold by our establishment in the past, also fit into this group. These furniture items are characterised by their typical shapes and structures, the decoration of their separate elements, and their idiosyncratic overall visual idiom. The present china cabinet is slightly more restrained in its execution than its relatives, but in terms of its overall design and details, it blends seamlessly into the lineup. Despite the pronounced characteristics of the furniture in this group, the maker or workshop from which they originated remains unknown. However, their gentle, rounded forms and curvature imply a maker with a German background.