CF5

Antwerp Cabinet

General Description: An ebony and turtleshell cabinet, c.1670, embellished with stamped brass mounts, probably Antwerp, late 17th century; having a moulded cornice over a central cupboard fashioned as a double-doored portico flanked by columns with brass Composite capitals, and with the pediment and plinth made as drawers, enclosing a mirror-backed arcaded niche with inlaid floor in bone and snakewood, with a slide under, flanked on each side by a vertical tier of four short drawers, and with two slim drawers in the base. (Dr. Adam Bowett, 2013-10-23)
Researcher Description: Cabinets of this type are usually associated with Antwerp, although some are also thought to have been made in Naples which, like Antwerp, was under Spanish control in the late 17th century. The use of oak drawer linings, together with South American exotics such as snakewood, rosewood and princes wood, suggest Antwerp as the more likely place of manufacture. The turtleshell, popularly called ‘tortoiseshell’, was obtained from several different species, but most is thought to have come from the Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata); it was imported from the Caribbean. When prepared for veneering the shell is virtually transparent, and the mottled red colour is produced by paint underneath the shell. The cabinet’s construction is conventional for the type and period. The standard of work is good but not exceptional, and some of the metalwork (especially the column capitals) is decidedly poor. It is possible that the stamped brass embellishments are not original, since there is evidence of earlier applied decoration beneath. Other doubtful or replaced elements are identified in the conservator’s report. On the other hand, the painted paper used to line the coved ceiling of the niche is a rare survival. The most interesting aspect of the cabinet is the modification of the drawers. Each of the eight original short drawers has had a ‘lid’ fitted, forming a closed box, and its back sawn off. This allowed the insertion of other, smaller drawers within, removable only from behind (i.e., you must first take the drawer out of the cabinet). Each small drawer is variously divided into compartments by mahogany fillets. Most are lined with blue ‘sugar bag’ paper, except the top two (of the four) drawers within the bottom drawer on the viewed left side – marked below with one asterisk. These two drawers are lined with silk rather than paper. All of the smaller drawers have brass ring pull handles except the seven drawers in the bottom two viewed right drawers (marked with two asterisks), These seven drawers (marked with **) have brass knobs instead of ring pulls. Left side (as viewed): 3 drawers inside drawer / 3 drawers inside drawer / 4 drawers inside drawer / 4 drawers inside drawer*. Right side (as viewed): 3 drawers inside drawer / 3 drawers inside drawer / 3 drawers inside drawer** / 4 drawers inside drawer**. The modified drawers were probably intended to house medals, coins, miniatures, cameos or perhaps shells and fossils, all of which were of interest to 18th century connoisseur-collectors such as Charles Rogers. Indeed, Rogers’s own list of purchases mentions many of these things. The style of the inserted drawers, with rounded tops to the drawer sides, is typical of English drawer construction of the first half of the 18th century, and the small brass drawer pulls are consistent with such a date. The main drawers were not originally fitted with locks; these too are English, probably dating from the mid-18th century. It is possible this cabinet was inherited by Rogers from William Townson. The putative dating of the modifications suggests that the cabinet could have been altered on the instructions of Charles Rogers, and there are several entries in his list of purchases which might refer to such work, but none specific enough to positively identify it. There is one relatively late entry which does refer to alterations to a tortoiseshell cabinet: "9 July 1770 Pd Mr R Tuson for fitting up a small tortoiseshell Cabinet with drawers for medals… £3,8,-." Although the date is rather late for the style of drawer construction there is a strong possibility that this entry refers to the present cabinet. Another possibility is that this is the tortoiseshell cabinet which William Cotton III bought at the Fonthill sale in 1823: "In October we went to Worthing and from thence to the sale at Fonthill Abbey where I bought a set of chairs, an ebony table and tortoiseshell cabinet." (Gerald K S Hamilton (ed.), Reminiscences of W. Cotton, p. 67.) (Dr. Adam Bowett, 2013-10-23)

The carcase is a dovetailed box, with poplar sides and deal top and bottom. The deal backboards are vertically oriented and nailed into a rebate in the carcase walls. The top and bottom carcase mouldings are composite and applied, and the sides have shallow applied mouldings to simulate panelled construction. The interior dividers and dustboards are poplar, housed in slots ploughed in the carcase and interior dividers. The drawers have poplar fronts, oak sides, bottoms and backs; bevelled front mouldings are planted on and finished with applied ripple-moulded ebony edge mouldings. The eight short drawers to either side of the cupboard have been modified to take shallow drawers accessible only from the back, after the drawer has been fully withdrawn from the carcase. The hinges to the central doors are probably original, but the lock is English, 18th century, as are the locks to the drawers. The central niche has a mirrored back and sides and a coved roof lined with coloured paper; the small interior niche in the back of the cupboard is also lined with marbled paper. All show surfaces are veneered with a combination of turtleshell, tropical hardwoods and bone, over which stamped brass decoration is fixed with small brass pins.

, 1670 c.

Antwerp

wood (poplar), wood (deal), wood (oak), wood (ebony), veneers: wood (snakewood), veneers: wood (rosewood), veneers: wood (princes wood), veneers: turtleshell, veneers: bone, veneers: brass (stamped)

Named Collection: Cottonian Collection