Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

16th Century Cabinet with Knights Carving from Avignon Workshops 'France'

About the Item

Collection Jean Thuile Around the mid-sixteenth century French furnishing evolves in its conception and ornamentation. The start of major architectural projects – such as Fontainebleau castle – gives a new drive to artists. New formulas, smart and creative, are developed and then broadcasted through engravings. In addition, Italian artists working on French sites introduce local artists to the antic taste. The lower body stands on a moulded plinth. The two symmetrical door-leaves are adorned with carved panels depicting knights dressed à l’antique. They carry banners inflated by the wind. On the background can be seen walls and domes of a Medieval city amidst vegetation. An inscription identifies the man as Tiberius. Flower and fruit garlands hanging from a conch enrich the lateral and central posts. The belt opens with two drawers framed by three acanthus leaves modillions. On each drawer is delicately carved sea horses emerging from the sea centred by a cringing mask. Its wide opened mouth acts as the drawer’s handle. The upper body is isolated from the lower body thanks to an overlapping tablet. The door-leaves panels use again the knights’ motif. Riding prancing horses the two knights now hold spears. They are accompanied by two armed soldiers seated on bushes. On the background is figured a man standing on the serrated wall and waving at them. A boat sails away on the calm ocean. The lateral and central posts are not ornated. A frieze tops the upper body. Two sea horses with long and twisted bodies frame a winged putto head. Two other putti heads flank the frieze. The cabinet is completed by an sea-horses inhabited pediment disrupted by a central aedicula. The columned aedicula is flanked by foliated serpentine chimaeras. The central figure could represent Neptune. He is depicted with an imposing mane while his nudity is hidden by the floating draperies. The lateral sides are enriched by rose and quill motifs. This richly and originally adorned cabinet presents a strong structure and illustrates perfectly the late 16th century production influenced by Italy, Fontainebleau and antiquity. This cabinet also expresses the patron’s taste for antic history, a major source of inspiration from the late 16th century onward. Through Greek authors such as Herodotus or Roman ones such as Livy are glorified models of heroism and polical grandeur. The Flemish Maerten de Vos and other printmakers drew inspiration from these texts and produced engravings later used by cabinet-makers to adorn their productions. During the late 16th century Ninus (founder of Assyrian empire), Cyrus (founder of Persian empire), Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar are the most represented. Those four men evoke the biblical theme of the Four Empires highlighting the frailty of human conquests. While our cabinet-maker did not represent the Four Empires he undoubtedly draw inspiration from the same sources. Thus he has depicted on the lower body door-leaves the Roman emperor Tiberius, famous for his military skills and his numerous victories. The cabinet-maker’s very precise and talented chisel has delivered to us an extraordinary cabinet where equestrian figures, marine animals and ornamental motifs mingle together in an elegant manner. Literature THIRION Jacques, Le Mobilier du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance en France, Edition Faton, 1998.
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 87.41 in (222 cm)Width: 55.91 in (142 cm)Depth: 21.86 in (55.5 cm)
  • Style:
    Renaissance (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    Last Quarter of the 16th Century
  • Condition:
    Repaired. Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Minor structural damages.
  • Seller Location:
    Saint-Ouen, FR
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3115327316032
More From This SellerView All
  • 16th Century French Carved Renaissance Cabinet
    Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
    Rare carved Renaissance cabinet Period : 2nd half 16th century, ca. 1570 Origin : France, Burgundy or Languedoc This cabinet embody the produ...
    Category

    Antique 16th Century French Renaissance Cabinets

    Materials

    Walnut

  • 16th Century French Walnut Cabinet with Marble Inlays
    Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
    On the left post of the lower body, is written the date 1596 in a cartouche This cabinet has two bodies. The upper part, set back, is moulded and carved. At the bottom, the cabine...
    Category

    Antique 16th Century French Renaissance Cabinets

    Materials

    Walnut

  • Important Renaissance Cabinet from Lyon 'France' with a Decor of Perspectives
    Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
    As soon as 1540 France's second Renaissance is in the making, intimately linked to the rediscovery of the Antique world. The development of the printing and engraving industry allows the spread of artworks and models in many cities and countries. The Italian influence can be perceived in every artistic field. While the French king entrust the most talented Italian artists with major projects such as Il Rosso or Primaticcio in Fontainebleau, French artists also travel to Italy to form themselves to this new style. In Italy they get acquainted with the work of Leo Battista Alberti the first to theorize perspective (De Pictura, 1435-36) and architecture (De re oedificatoria, 1541). Those two publications would have a revolutionary impact on arts. Furniture is marked by the work of the most famous Italian architects of the time as well as French architects. Indeed Philibert de l'Orme competes with Alberti and by the end of his life publishes several treaties including one devoted to a theory of architecture (1567). Unfortunately he would not live to complete the second volume. In this treaty he expresses his interest for mathematical norms applied to architecture, copied from the Antique. His journeys in Italy allowed him to accumulate the most sophisticated references. Jean Bullant, another architect of great talent also theorizes his practice. He establishes rules characterizing Greco-Roman art staying faithful to Vitruvius. Following this new inspiration the structure of furniture evolves. From then on appear columns, capitals, cornices, friezes and architraves. The ornamentation uses this inspiration as well with egg-and-dart, palm leaf and rose adorning the most beautiful pieces. In Lyon, crossroad where meet merchants from everywhere those new experiments are welcomed. Lyon florishing printing industry allows the spreading of models and treaties essential to the artist's work. Thus the first publication of Vitruvius' De Architectura in France would be printed in Lyon in 1532. Artists from Lyon rediscover and familiarize themselves with the Antique knowledge very early. They adopt those new ideas and use them in their own creations. Lyon cabinet-makers re interpret Antique architecture and Italian Renaissance palaces to give their pieces a pure and harmonious architectural structure. Grooved pilasters are particularly favored. They are topped by capitals of diverse orders always respecting the sequencing with simpler ones for the lower levels and the richest ones on the higher levels. As for the ornamentation, one of the great distinctiveness of Lyon workshops remains the architectural perspective illusions, drawing inspiration from Tuscany. True masterpiece of the Second French Renaissance this important cabinet illustrates Lyon workshops' taste for fine Italian architecture inspired by Antiquity. An architectural perspective of great quality is treated in symmetry on each panel. This two-bodied cabinet without recess stands on four rectangular feet. The base comprises a molding, a palm leaf frieze and is bordered by a braid. The lower body is divided by three grooved pilasters with Tuscan capitals framing two door-leaves. The two panels are encircled by a moudled frame with palm leaves. They are finely carved with a decor of fantasized architecture depicting an Italian Renaissance palace erected symmetrically on each side of a grooved pilaster. On the ground floor a door opens through a stilted arch while the stories are opened with mullioned windows, dormers and occuli. Two large pegged-boss cladded pillars support the entablature enriched by a palm leaf frieze upon which stands an arch whose coffered intrados is centred by a rose. Behind this arch a pyramid appears, standing in front of a second facade with a window topped by a broken curvilinear pediment under a cul-de-four with a shell. The checker flooring gives depth to the low-reliefs creating vanishing points structuring the panels and guiding the eye of the observer. A thin laurel braid highlights the belt of the cabinet where are located two drawers. Their facades are adorned by palm leaves in hoops. The upper body is encircled with palm leaves. The same ternary division as in the lower body appears. However, the pilasters are topped by Ionic capitals with volutes and egg-and-dart. The door-leaves are framed with flowers. On the panels the artist has designed another architectural decor. On the foreground open two arches on top of grooved pilasters with rectangular capitals adorned with palm leaves. The arches are enriched with braids and the coffered intrados bears a decor of roses. The spandrels also bear a flower decor. In the background another arcature hosts a fluted grooved column topped with double basket acanthus capital, characteristic of Corinthian order. The triangular pediment is interrupted by a choux bourguignon. A large cornice crowns the cabinet. It stands on pilasters and forms an entablature comprising a palm leaf frieze and an egg-and-dart, triglyph and palm leaf cornice. The cabinet's sides have also been carefully considered. The lower body's panels are enriched with an arch rising above a broken pediment portico hosting a twisted column. Flowers garnish the spandrels. An architectural facade completes the decor. The upper body's panels present two arches supported by a facade opened with dormers and mullioned windows as well as cartouches (one bears the inscription 1580 dating the cabinet) suggesting the interior of an Italian Renaissance palace, confirmed by the chandeliers. The flooring leads our gaze to a second arch with a broken curvilinear pediment where stands a flower vase. This arch opens onto a perspective of another facade along a road. Inside the cabinet, on the lower body door-leaves appear two designs. On the right door is depicted a Crucifixion. Saint Mary and Saint John flank the Christ on the cross. In the bottom part is inscribed « Dure uiator abis nihil haec spectacula curas / Pendenti cum sis unica cura Deo. / Tota suo moriente dolet natura Magistro. / Nil qui solus eras caussa dolenda doles. ». The signature [Christoff Swartz Monachiensis pinx[it] / Ioa[nnes] Sadeler sculp[it]] tells us it was made by Johan Sadeler I (1550-1600) after Christoph Schwartz (1548-1592). This engraving belongs to an ensemble depicting the Passion of Christ Johan Sadeler executed in 1589 after an altar piece painted by Christoph Schwartz for the private chapel of Renée of Loraine, wife of Duke William V of Bavaria. This altar piece made of nine copper panels has been destroyed during the 19th century. The Crucifixion panel once in the centre of the altar piece is the only one that survived and is today kept in Munich's Alte Pinakothek. On the left door appears Saint Francis receiving the stigmata. The inscription says : « Signastidomine Servum Tuum. Franciscum. Signis Redemptionis Nostrae ». This Renaissance cabinet with an architectural decor appearing as much in the structure faithful to Antique rules...
    Category

    Antique 16th Century European Renaissance Cabinets

    Materials

    Walnut

  • French Renaissance Cabinet with Perspectives
    Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
    This Renaissance Cabinet reveals the great mastery of the Lyon workshops which are at the origin of its realization. Sculptors and wood-carvers worked here in symbiosis to express an...
    Category

    Antique 16th Century French Renaissance Cabinets

    Materials

    Walnut

  • 16th Century Renaissance Two-Bodied Cabinet
    Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
    Former collection Altounian At the beginning of the reign of Henri II (1547-1559) the furniture’s ornamentation evolves. The few medieval motifs that were still used are eventually relinquished. Furniture becomes more sober showcasing moulded panels and perfect architecture. Cabinet-makers use ornaments such as curved fluted or plain columns, feather quills, roses or winged putti heads. High-relief carving becomes more scarce and compositions lighter. To that end cabinet-makers draw inspiration from Fontainebleau motifs filtering them and adapting them to French taste. During this period cabinet-makers turn into a kind of architects. Indeed the architectural balance of furniture is the centre of their concerns. The study of Antic formulas is then a necessity. From this care given to proportions appear refined cabinets with pure lines. This style is characteristic of the reign of Henri II and disappears soon after under the regency of Catherine de Medici (1560-1574) when an abundance of high and low-relief ornaments comes back on furnitures. This two-bodies cabinet...
    Category

    Antique 16th Century French Renaissance Cabinets

    Materials

    Walnut

  • 16th Century Two Bodied Genoan "Stipo" Cabinet with a Bambocci Decor
    Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
    This stipo, little Italian cabinet made of walnut and walnut burl, is a remarkable example of Mannerism applied to decorative arts during the late 16th century. While the Manneris...
    Category

    Antique 16th Century Italian Renaissance Cabinets

    Materials

    Walnut

You May Also Like
  • 16th Century Portuguese Wooden Cabinet
    Located in High Point, NC
    Handsome and dignified, this antique Provincial cabinet combines understated simplicity with a beautiful auburn finish. Made in Portugal in the 16th century, paneled doors unlock wit...
    Category

    Antique 16th Century Portuguese Country Cabinets

    Materials

    Wood

  • 17th Century Painted Oak Homme Debout Cabinet from Southwest France
    Located in Dallas, TX
    A Homme debout is a two-bodied cabinet with a drawer separating the sections. This handsome Homme debout from southwest France was hand carved from oak in the 1600s. The period Louis...
    Category

    Antique 17th Century French Louis XIII Cabinets

    Materials

    Wood, Paint

  • 19th Century French Blue Painted Cabinet with 4 Doors
    Located in Atlanta, GA
    Light blue painted cabinet / armoire with 4 cabinet doors and azure blue painted interior, 19th century France. Upper cabinets fitted with shelves...
    Category

    Antique 19th Century French Cabinets

    Materials

    Wood

  • Napoleon III Cabinet, Petite Armoire, French 19th Century
    Located in Montreal, Quebec
    Napoleon III cabinet or Petite armoire, French 19th century Ebonized, Boulle Style details, bronze inlay, gilt bronze mounts, marble top. Its neoclas...
    Category

    Antique 19th Century French Napoleon III Cabinets

    Materials

    Carrara Marble, Bronze

  • 19th C. German Tall Storage Cabinet w/ Arched Cornice & Decorative Carvings
    Located in Atlanta, GA
    A German tall storage cabinet with nicely carved accents from the 19th century. This tall antique armoire cabinet from Germany features a molde...
    Category

    Antique 19th Century German Cabinets

    Materials

    Wood

  • Early 19th Century French Wooden Cabinet
    Located in High Point, NC
    A bleached oak cabinet from early 19th century France. This cabinet’s sumptuously decorated paneled doors open to reveal four large storage shelves...
    Category

    Antique Early 19th Century French French Provincial Wardrobes and Armoires

    Materials

    Oak

Recently Viewed

View All