Lot 236 , A late 17th century Portuguese ormolu mounted ebony and red tortoiseshell cabinet on stand, W.124cm D.46cm H.187cm
A late 17th century Portuguese ormolu mounted ebony and red tortoiseshell cabinet on stand,
of architectural form, with two central doors opening to reveal a nonsuch faux architectural interior, with bone and tortoiseshell 'tiled' floor, mirrored panels and hand painted back panel depicting a fountain in a garden, surrounded by ten further drawers over a brushing slide and standing upon spiral fluted columns with bun feet,
W.124cm D.46cm H.187cm
£8,000-12,000
Condition:
The top has an old wooden plank laid across it and a vacant central section that presumably at one time matched the rest of the cabinet, turned finials to the top may well be later, top central deep drawer has a loose piece of moulding to the right and the figure to the right is coming loose, drawers have snap locks which respond to varying effect to one key, the central doors also have one key operating the original lock, one small section of tortoiseshell veneer missing from below the second left drawer, some damage to the tortoiseshell veneers where the lock has scratched them on the closing of the drawers, central door panels have slightly wobbly ormolu mounts and some fine splitting to the internal veneering, the fitted interior has lost one cap to a column and has other sections of bone banding missing along with cracks to one of the mirrors, one further mirrored section is missing, the interior almost certainly houses secret compartments, however if so other than a sliding top section nothing has as yet been revealed, slide to the base of the cabinet is jammed shut, tortoiseshell veneers to the top of the stand look original, one gilt reverse finial is missing from the centre of the apron, the legs look a little heavy and are thought to be later replacements as is the backboard of the stand, feet also probably later certainly scuffed and old, sides with lifting of the ebony veneers with numerous small losses, overall a fantastic piece of furniture that does require fairly extensive restoration.
Unsold