Important wedding cabinet. Amsterdam, 17th century

Important wedding cabinet. Amsterdam, 17th century.
Oak wood. Tortoiseshell, ebony and rosewood veneers. Gilt brass and bronze applications.
With Amsterdam coat of arms.
In good state of preservation.
Measurements: 240 x 149 x 53 cm. 146 cm (cabinet height); 97 cm (buffet height).

The wedding cabinets, like the one presented here, were luxury furniture ordered on the occasion of marriage, especially among the wealthy families of the prosperous Dutch Republic. They reflected both social status and the moral and domestic values of the time, and were made of noble materials such as tortoiseshell.

Our cabinet presents a structured display, where the chromatic contrast of tortoiseshell and ebony is enhanced by gilded brass applications. The main structure houses eleven perimeter drawers flanking two central doors, concealing a functional sliding writing surface beneath them. While the sides have sober geometric inlays, the whole is elevated on a base of refined execution. The frontispiece culminates in a pediment with an openwork gallery, presided over by a bronze figure of Athena housed in a niche, while a gilded bronze plaque above the doors depicts a nereid bearing the coat of arms of the city of Amsterdam.

The exceptionally rich iconography displays motifs of hearts (understandably nuptial in nature), sheathed busts, dolphins and acanthus scrolls. When opened, the doors reveal a sumptuous interior theater with a scenographic effect, composed of twelve drawers and Solomonic columns that are multiplied by a set of mirrors. The floor, with a checkerboard pavement, converges in a central star of fine marquetry. The back of the theater conceals a bas-relief in carved and gilded wood with an explicit nuptial symbolism: two facing eagles guard two flaming hearts under a crowned handshake, iconography that suggests that this piece was a commission of exceptional prestige for a marriage of high nobility or royalty in Amsterdam.