Zebregs&Röell

India, Punjab, circa 1755 Signed by the artist Swami 'Ram Rikh' of Seopur and dated Samvat 1812 (1755) Opaque watercolour and gold on paper, H. 23.8 x W. 16.2 cm (image) H. 28.3 x ...

Canton, late 18th century In original hardwood frame with ruyi-shaped metal mount for suspension. H. 38.7 x W. 44.3 cm (incl. frame) H. 31.8 x W. 37.5 cm (image) Chinese reverse glass paintings for export are known since mid 18th century. By the 1780's the copying of European, mainly English, engravings came into vogue in Chinese paintings on glass...

Mughal India, Gujarat, 2nd half 17th century H. 22.4 x W. 30.3 x D. 26.8 cm This small cabinet has six drawers behind two doors. Originally ordered by the Portuguese, and made afte...

Apart from being a highly decorative object and a status symbol, these miniature pieces of furniture also functioned as collector’s items. Just like the dollhouses were for rich wome...

Corner cabinet, The Hague circa 1775 Dimensions: 270 cm high, 132 cm wide, and 72 cm deep. Oak core veneered with mahogany, gilded bronze fittings. Provenance: Passed down from gener...

Chest of drawers attributed to the workshop of Matthijs Horrix, circa 1770-1780 Dimensions: 82 cm high, 115 cm wide, and 52 cm deep. Oak core veneered with rosewood and palm wood marquetry, topped with a white Carrara marble slab, gilded bronze fittings. Provenance: Private collection, Wallonia, Belgium This chest of drawers was almost certainly made in the workshop of Matthijs Horrix in The Hague. Horrix, originally from Germany, settled in The Hague in the 1760s, where he specialized in making furniture in the French style. His workshop was probably the most important in the third quarter of the 18th century in the court city and was well known far beyond the city limits. A large number of pieces of furniture have been preserved that can be attributed to this workshop, including several in royal possession...

A magnificent Dutch marquetry cabinet on stand, by Jan van Mekeren (1658-1733) possibly made for William III and Mary of England Amst...

The Van Mekeren cabinet: A Newly Discovered Pinnacle by the Master of Marquetry The highly important Dutch marquetry Van Mekeren cabinet Amsterdam, circa 1700, by Jan van Mekeren...

Three exquisite Japanese nineteenth-century bronze sculptures of carp. The sculptures are in excellent state. The set contains three different carp: A large one, a medium-sized one ...

A Japanese giltwood sculpture of Kannon Bosatzu Japan, Edo period, Early 19th century H. 50 X W. 58.3 cm Provenance: - The Somerwil Collection of ...

The Netherlands, 21st century, died of natural cause in a European zoo H. 141 cm Endemic to North-east Australia and Papua-Guinea, the Cassowary is regarded as the most dangerous b...

The Marot cabinet A Magnificent Walnut Burr Cabinet on stand or 'kruisvoetkabinet' in the style of Daniel Marot Circa 1720, probably made for George Clifford III in Amsterdam or the Hague The cabinet is one of the rarest examples of a so-called Kruisvoetkabinet, which is translated to Cabinet on stand. The cabinet is raised on a stand with eight legs and tree drawers. Below the drawers and on the sides are five carved ornaments. The hollow formed corners are mounted with carved ornaments too. The upper part of the cabinet has two doors decorated with panels and on each door two carved ornaments in Marot style. The cabinet has a double dome top.The interior of the cabinet has tree shelves and five drawers. The brass fittings and handles are original and finished with gilt lacquer. The cabinet is made of oak and veneered with burr walnut. The carvings, turned parts and the ball feet are made of solid walnut. This cabinet is a unique piece of Dutch furniture. Cabinets on stand became popular in the third quarter of the 17th century and were made until the second quarter of the 18th century. Most of the dutch cabinets on stand...

A traditional Ashanti Chief’s velvet and giltwood Leopard crown Ghana, early 20th century Diam. 17 cm (crown) H. 27 cm (incl. stand) Provenance: Pri...

An Ashanti Chief’s ceremonial gold and gilt-metal crown and sash Ghana, early 20th century Diam. 20 cm (crown) L. 128 cm (sash) H. 102 cm (incl. st...

A splendid Dutch-colonial Sinhalese ebony two-door cabinet with silver mounts Sri Lanka, Kandy, 2nd half 17th century, the mounts later The cabinet with a central drawer with hidde...

A large Indian Colonial ‘Vizagapatam’ pen-engraved bone inlaid ebony box Masulipatnam or Vizagapatam, 2nd half 18th century H. 10.8 x W. 47 x D. 34 cm ...

A Dutch-colonial Sri Lankan coromandel wood miniature chest of drawers with silver mounts Sri Lanka, 18th century, circa 1750 H. 35 x W. 48 x D....

A Dutch-colonial five-foot amboyna wood VOC chest with brass mounts Batavia (Jakarta) or Sri Lanka, 18th century H. 80.5 (including bun-feet) x W. 153 x D. 64.5 cm The many moves from post to post undertaken by VOC officials in the course of their careers made the chest an indispensable item of furniture in every household and for transport. But to avoid overloading sailing ships with chests of all sizes and forms the Heeren XVII adopted a great number of resolutions regulating the form and seizes of the chests and the number each VOC official was allowed to take. On his repatriation, the Governor General was allowed eighteen large chests, a member of the Council of India ten, a minister of religion two and a carpenter, boatswain, cook’s mate only one smaller chest, about three-quarter the size of the largest chest...

A charming carved giltwood Chinese export mirror frame with a watch-stand Canton, Qing Dynasty, early 19th century H. 65 x W. 34.5 cm At the top of the frame, two angels are suppo...

A Dutch-colonial Sri Lankan coromandel wood document box with silver mounts Probably Galle, 18th century H. 19 x W. 49 x D. 33 cm The ches...

A pair of very fine silver filigree rosewater sprinklers Possibly India, Karimnagar, early 18th century Height 31.6 cm and 31.7 cm, weight 39...

An extremely rare, possibly unique, Chinese export lacquer bureau for the Dutch market Canton, circa 1737 H. 118 x W. 102.5 x D. 63 cm Provenance: - Private collection, The Netherlands - J.K. Driessen Antiques, Arnhem (Art Fair Breda, 1989) - Noble collection, Belgium Literature: - C.J.A. Jörg, ’De handel van de V.O.C. in Oosters lakwerk in de 18de eeuw’ in: Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek , Jr. 31 (1980), pp. 355-363 (ill.) - Annigje Hofstede, Nederlandse meubelen van Barok tot Biedermeier, 1700-1830, Waanders, Zwolle 2004, pp. 35-37 (ill.) This lacquer bureau is one of the four writing desks purchased in Canton in 1737, and as far as is known, this is the only remaining bureau of its type from the period. As the VOC believed that large pieces of import took up too much valuable space in their trading ships...

A Mughal painting of a ‘Lion at rest’ North India, early 19th century ? Watercolour on paper, H. 46.5 x W. 68 cm ?The present painting is a large...

A splendid and heavy Dutch-colonial silver filigree salver Indonesia, Batavia (Jakarta) or possibly Padang, West Sumatra, 2nd half 17th century Diam. 22.9 cm Weight 551 grams This filigree-work was probably done by Chinese masters...

Superb late 16th century signed colonial Japanese Namban export lacquer coffer Momoyama period, late 16th/early 17th century, inscribed 'Arisato' on the bottom H. 30.5 x W. 43...

A Chinese export porcelain VOC (Dutch East India Company) dish Canton, Yongzheng period, circa 1730 Diam. 23 cm Executed in rose-pink, ...

A highly important Japanese export lacquer cabinet with depiction of the Dutch East India Company tradepost Deshima and the annual Dutch delegation on its way to the Shogun in Edo Edo period, circa 1660-1680 H. 88 x W. 100.5 x D. 54 cm This cabinet includes a later European japanned stand, but also a modern powder-coated steel frame. The latter can be designed and added to your specific needs. The sides and front of the rectangular two-door cabinet are embellished in gold and silver hiramaki-e and takamaki-e on a black roiro lacquer ground with a continuous design. The two doors depict a long procession of numerous figures travelling on foot and horseback along buildings and a pagoda into a mountainous landscape. This is the annual court journey, Hofreis, of the Dutch from Nagasaki to the Shogun’s court in Edo. Three horseback riders are dressed as Dutch merchants and a fourth figure, probably het Opperhoofd, is seen inside a palanquin, norimon. Just about to cross the bridge, two men are carrying a cabinet like the present one. Many Japanese figures on either side of the procession are engaged in various activities; some play musical instruments on board of small boats, others are fishing; figures inside buildings are depicted playing go, and farmers are tending to their rice paddocks. The upper part of the right door shows a large mansion, probably the local daimyo’s castle, with men kneeling before a man in the central courtyard. The court journey fits in with the foreign policy of the shogunate which accorded a role to the VOC alongside China, Korea, and the Ryukyu Islands who also had to pay tribute. However, the VOC employees were traders, having low status in Japan’s social hierarchy, and they were received with less deference than were the state embassies from Korea and the Ryukyu Islands. Nevertheless, the contacts with the Dutch were a welcome source of information to the Shogun about Europe and European science and technology. The left side of the cabinet depicts, in mirror image, a rare view of the artificial fan-shaped Deshima Island, the trading post for the Dutch in Japan. The island, where the Dutch flag flies, is surrounded by small Japanese boats and an anchored three-masted fluyt (cargo ship), flying Dutch flags, with on the stern the VOC monogram. On the bottom right a busy street of Nagasaki is shown, bordered by shops and leading up to the stone bridge. On the island the trees are beautifully painted, two cows can be seen, and the flagpole, all in very fine detail. Dutchmen and enslaved Malay are visible outside the buildings and two Japanese figures, probably guards, sit in a small hut in the centre. A maximum of fifteen to twenty Dutchmen lived on the island at any time and soldiers or women were not allowed. Restrictions on Deshima were tight, and the merchants were only allowed to leave the island by special permission. The Opperhoofd had to be replaced every year, and each new Opperhoofd had to make a court journey to pay tribute, present gifts, and to obtain permission to Margaret Barclay eep on trading. In the distance, many birds fly above the hills and a four-story pagoda can be seen. The right side of the cabinet is painted with other horse riders and their retinue journeying through mountains. The pair of doors to the front open to reveal ten rectangular drawers. The drawers are decorated with scenes of birds in flight and landscapes with trees and plants. The reverse of the left door with two thatched buildings, one with a ladder, underneath a camelia tree with large blooms; the right door with a three-story pagoda nestled among trees and both doors with a flying phoenix, ho-oo bird. The cabinet, with elaborately engraved gilt copper mounts, hinges, lock plates and brass handles, is raised on an 18th-century English japanned wood stand. A pair of large cabinets...

A Dutch-colonial Indonesian small Albizia adoratissima, Nangka and Ambalo wood Lady’s tambour bureau with silver mounts Batavia (Jakarta) or Palembang, late 18th century H. 129.5 x W. 70 x D. 39 cm The tambour desk or bureau a` cilindre came into fashion in the Dutch East Indies of the late 18th century, when French forms prevailed in the Netherlands. The carvings on the apron and the stiles on the sides and at the top of the central stile are typical Indonesian designs. This small piece of furniture is not a miniature but was probably used as a regular bureau-cabinet by colonial society women of Indonesian-European descent. They usually are smaller than European women and often didn’t use chairs but sat or kneeled, and even slept on the floor for coolness. Earlier that century Dutch-colonial Indonesian and Cape Dutch...

Piers Secunda (b. 1976) A huge 3d sculpture made of carved out white paint Title: ‘Painting of a Wuhan Mountain’ Sculpted industrial floor paint, H. 144 x W. 68 x D. 44 cm Piers Secunda has been making objects out of commercial floor paint for 25 years, rejecting the limitations of ‘painting’ imposed by the canvas. In the tradition of his studio practice the present Wuhan Mountain is made of commercial floor paint; hence the title ‘Painting of a Wuhan Mountain’. On a journey to China he was inspired by the fine ivory carvings produced in Canton, but also by the Wuhan landscape and its famous mountain temples. Scholars from the earliest Chinese dynasties...

A rare Japanese export lacquer medical instrument box Edo-period, 1650-1700 L. 19 x W. 6 x H. 8.5 cm This unconventionally shaped lacquer b...

A Japanese Nagasaki export lacquer box with mother-of-pearl depiction of the Amsterdam ‘Trippenhuis’ Edo-period, circa 1830 H. 12.5 x W. 24...

A Japanese export Nagasaki lacquer tobacco box with the portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte Edo-period, circa 1810 The box in black lacquer on copper, ...

A Japanese export lacquer tripod table with feet shaped as bats Nagasaki, 1850-1860 H. 73 x diam. 108 cm The six-lobbed top is decorated with reverse-painted mother-of-pearl in a sprawling motif of plum blossom, bamboo, and peonies, surrounded by fluttering sparrows enhanced by details in maki-e. The table, made to appeal to a foreign audience, incorporates a curious mixture of seasonal references. In addition to the decoration of foliage from late winter and spring, the column is decorated with grapes and a rabbit pounding rice, both Japanese motifs for autumn and the month of September. The feet, shaped like bats that almost appear to wake up from hibernation, symbolise luck and happiness in Japan. The present flamboyant Nagasaki-style table is depicted in the Asada workshop drawings of 1856. These drawings, titled Aogai makie hiinagata hikae (memorandum of designs for lacquer with inlaid pearl...

A fine Indo-Portuguese inlaid teak wood figure of Nagini India, Goa, 17th century Measure: H. 55 cm (with stand, and with ring for wall hanging) The sculpture can be perceived as such but probably is one of four legs of an Indo-Portuguese contador...

An exceptional Indo-Portuguese colonial mother-of-pearl veneered casket with silver mounts India, Gujarat, 2nd half of the 16th century, the silver mounts Goa or probably Lisbon Measures: H. 16 x W. 24.6 x D. 16.1 cm An exceptional Gujarati casket with a rectangular box and truncated pyramidal lid (with slopes on each side and a flat top) made from exotic wood, probably teak (Tectona grandis), covered with a mother-of-pearl mosaic. The tesserae, cut from the shell of the green turban sea snail (Turbo marmoratus, a marine gastropod) in the shape of fish scales, are pinned to the wooden structure with silver ball-headed nails. The casket is set on bracket feet on the corners. The masterfully engraved decoration of the silver mounts follows the most refined and erudite Mannerist repertoire of rinceaux and ferroneries dating from the mid-16th century. The high quality and refinement of the silver mounts and, likewise, the silver nails that replaced the original brass pins used to hold the mother-of-pearl tesserae in place indicate the work of a silversmith probably working in Lisbon in the second half of the 16th century. The Indian origin of this production, namely from Cambay (Khambhat) and Surat in the present state of Gujarat in north India, is, as for the last three decades, consensual and fully demonstrated, not only by documentary and literary evidence - such as descriptions, travelogues and contemporary archival documentation - but also by the survival in situ of 16th-century wooden structures covered in mother-of-pearl tesserae. A fine example is a canopy decorating the tomb (dargah) of the Sufi saint, Sheik Salim Chisti (1478-1572) in Fatehpur Sikri in Agra district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, north India. This is an artistic production, geometric in character and Islamic in nature, where usually the mother-of-pearl tesserae form complex designs of fish scales or, similar to the dishes also made using the same technique, with the thin brass sheets and pins, stylized lotus flowers. The truncated pyramidal shape corresponds, like their contemporary tortoiseshell counterparts also made in Gujarat, to a piece of furniture used in the Indian subcontinent within the Islamic world prior to the arrival of the first Portuguese. This shape, in fact, is very old and peculiar to East-Asian caskets, chests or boxes used to contain and protect Buddhist texts, the sutras. A similar chest is the famous and large reliquary chest from Lisbon cathedral that once contained the relics of the city's patron saint, Saint Vincent. Both match in shape, having the same kind of socle or pedestal and bracket feet, and in their engraved silver mountings, featuring the same type of refined, erudite decoration. Their differences lie in the silver borders that frame the entire length of the edges of the chest (both the box and the lid), pinned with silver nails, and on the lock plate, shaped like a coat of arms in the Lisbon example. Given the exceptional dimensions of the reliquary casket...

Unpei Kameyama (1821-1899) A view of black (American) ships in the bay of Uraga Senminato, Miura district, June 1853 The Japanese text reads: ‘The seventy-six old men for the Kitamura-clan, drawn in 1897 on request of Yoshisada Kitamura, Himeji, the black ships which so much changed the fate of Japan, enjoy please this masterpiece by Harima Shonin Bisei who brings back memories of his young days.’ Watercolour on paper, laid down on cardboard, H. 44.5 x W. 115.5 cm Provenance: Collection of Yoshisada Kitamura, Himeji Yoshisada Kitamura (1838-1899), the son of a farmer in the village of Ogawa, in the district of Harimakashikihigashi, studied under Matajiro Otaka and got heavily involved in the anti-Shogunate movement. He was active in several military incidents against the Shogunate. After the Meiji restoration, he served the Meiji government as a local official in the Himeji domain. Kameyama Unpei was a Confucian scholar, a Shinto priest...

A Chinese export porcelain dish with Dutch decoration of a VOC ship Circa 1700-1710, the Dutch decoration circa 1720-1730 Diam. 21.5 cm ? Originally l...

A taxidermy red patas or hussar monkey (Erythrocebus patas) Mid 20th century, including CITES H. approx. 40 cm Provenance: Private collection, the Netherlands The patas monkey lives in multi-female groups...

A Peranakan djati wood miniature bed for an Anak Ambar, a miscarried fetus Indonesia, Peranakan Chinese, late 19th century Measures: H. 41 x L...

A polychrome wood model of a Toraja dwelling or tongkonan Indonesia, Sulawesi, Tana Toraja, early 20th century H. 60 x L. 94 x D. 33 cm Provenance: - Seminary Rosa Stichting, Nijmegen - Instituut voor Kulturele Antropologie van de Katholieke Universiteit, Nijmegen - With Michel Thieme...

A rare large Chinese export porcelain 'Table Bay' dish Qianlong period, circa 1735-1750 Diam. 27.5 cm This version of the ‘Table Bay’ porcelain docu...

Kawahara Keiga (1786 - c. 1860) Two Dutch ships anchored in the bay of Nagasaki Sumi ink and pigment on silk, H. 27 x W. 41 cm (excl. frame) Comes framed, see image. ?Based o...

A refined Chinese export painting depicting ‘The Tea shop’ Canton, early 19th century Ink and watercolour on silk, H. 63.5 x W. 52.3 cm Framed in giltwood frame. ?The paintin...

An extremely rare and large Chinese export famille rose armorial porcelain charger with the Amsterdam coat-of-arms Qianlong period, circa 1720-1...

A Portuguese-colonial Japanese Namban lacquer vargueno cabinet Momoyama period, circa 1600 H. 43 x W. 64.5 x D. 36 cm Wood, black lacquered and deco...

A collection of splendid mineral specimens naturally formed resembling snowy mountains All found in Trepca, Kosovo From left to right: Sphalerite, Rock Crystal, Pyrite & Ca...

A highly unusual carved painted, gilt and gem-set tortoise carapace resembling the mythical Cosmic or World-bearing Turtle Probably Germany, late 19...

An Indonesian Peranakan mother-of-pearl inlaid mastic sirih casket with silver mounts Jakarta (Batavia), circa 1720-1730, the silver hinges marked for Batavia, maker’s mark HS or SH...

An extremely rare antique taxidermy Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) 1st half 20th century The marvellous creature in very good condition and o...

An extremely rare giant Victorian taxidermy Loggerhead sea turtle England, 19th century The extremely large animal with a nice patina, with some parts professionally restored and...

A rare Dutch Renaissance 17th-century Maternity room or Child's cabinet, in Dutch called 'Luiermandskast' circa 1650, possibly the circle of Herman Doomer...

A fine Balinese Suarwood (Albizia saman) sculpture depicting a scene from the Ramayana Gianyar, 1970-1980 Measures: H. 48.5 cm The sculpture depicts a scene from the Ramayana....

Johann Christian Friderici [= Frederici] (Heldburg 1766 - Cape Town 1804) Prospect van het eyland, en de rheede van St. Iago. Geteekend van Johann Christian Friderici / Verbeelding van de inwoonders op St Iago (View of the island, and the roadstead of St. Iago. Drawn by Johann Christian Friderci / Depiction of the inhabitants on St Iago) ?Porto Praia, Cape Verde...

A unique large hand-drawn map of Surinam by Albrecht Helmut Hiemcke (German, 1760-1839) ? 'Colonie Surinaame', 1830 A large hand-drawn and coloured map of the colony of Suri...

A splendid commemorating glass with a fine engraving of a plantation house and coffee shrubs with a text reading: Het.Welvaaren.Van.De.Plantagie.Saxen (the prosperity of the Plantati...

A commemorating glass with an engraving of a farmer ploughing, an East Indiaman and a text reading: Het Lan’s Wel Varen An De Caap (the country’s prosperity at the Cape of Good Hope...

Extremely rare copy of the Venezuelan Declaration of Independance 'Declaracion de Independencia de las Siete Provincias Unidas de Venezuela en Congreso de 5 de Julio de 1811' By Lorenzo Lüthy (c. 1811-1877), printed in Philadelphia, Peter S. Duval, 1841. Lithograph on laid paper, mounted in passepartout, H. 84 x W. 64.5 cm (with mount H. 96,5 x W. 77 cm.) Large and extremely rare lithographed broadside Declaration of Independence of Venezuela by American immigrant...

An important Japanese six-fold screen, depicting episodes from The Tale of The Genji Edo period, 17th century Ink and colour on gilded paper, H. 155 x W. 380 cm The Tale of Genji...

A Japanese painting depicting Commodore Matthew Perry’s flagship USS Mississippi bringing the coffin with the remains of US marine private Robert Williams who died while serving on t...

An extremely rare pair of Chinese export porcelain ‘Table Bay’ or 'Cape of Good Hope' dishes Qianlong period, mid-18th century Measure: Diameter. 23.8 ...