AN ANTWERP COLLECTOR'S CABINET

This rare museum-quality collector's cabinet with its delicately embroidered silk panels is contained within an ebony surround which reflects the taste for exotic materials in the 17th century. Due to their fragility, very few cabinets with embroidered panels survive. The technique for employing woven fabrics for pictorial decoration was used mainly in England and Flanders. Embroidery in gros and petit point, stumpwork and cut paperwork was used on a silk background. The subject matter included the depiction of biblical and historical events ans exotic animals and flowers. The dolphins which are depicted symbolized their Faith to the early Christians. It was seen as a prefiguration of Christ's death and resurrection.

Provenance :
-) Harris Lindsay - GB
-) Private Danish collection
Bibliography :
-)” The Art of the Cabinet", M. Riccardi-Cubitt
-) “Zuid-Nederlandse pronkmeubels", Ria Fabri, 1989
Comparanda :
-) Rockoxhuis - Antwerp (B)
-) Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis - Brussels (B)