16th Century Furniture

A remarkable early French oak sideboard dating to around 1550, displaying the quiet power, authenticity, and time‑worn beauty that define true rustic antiques. Crafted nearly five ce...

Renaissance Wind Cosmology Woodcut with Globe & Elemental Winds, 1590 This striking late 16th-century German woodcut page originates from an early ency...

Beautiful weathered oak winged angel head Renaissance ornament. France, 16/ 17th century. Weathered Measurements include the wooden pedestal.

Impressive 16th century Prison Door from Grasse, France. Soundly constructed from in oak and hand forged iron hinges, bolts and lock. Serves perfectly as an entry to a wine cellar ...

A Rare 16th-Century Ko-Bizen Stoneware Jar: A Masterpiece of Muromachi-Period Art This exceptional stoneware jar dates back to the late Muromachi period (16th century), a golden era...

1. Border inscription: transcription, archaic spelling, and meaning Diplomatic reading (as engraved, according to your magnified observation and detail photographs): VEI IVOA · ELA...

This piece is an old Tokoname ware jar produced in the Tokoname region of Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It is believed to date from the Momoyama period to the early Edo period (late 16th ...

16th century Italian oil painting of Madonna and Child framed with 17th century Italian fragments and adorned with natural-forming amber. The painting is a depiction of the Virgin Ma...

A very impressive Westphalian Gothic chest or ‚Stollentruhe’, Westphalia, Germany, circa 1500-1550. Wrought iron mounted oak, partially carved. The monumental rectangular standing ch...

This 16th century Aubusson (French) tapestry is remarkably still vibrant and in wonderful antique condition. Its original border is completely intact and designed with florals, folia...

This Bizen ware jar was fired in the Bizen region of Okayama Prefecture. Bizen ware is one of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns and is known as one of the oldest pottery styles in Japan. Its...

This impressive large Stollentruhe, also known as a Stollentroewe, is a large German storage chest crafted around 1580. Its distinctive construction, with massive upright corner post...

Beautiful weathered hand carved stone medieval statue depicting a Saint . Italy 16th century. Weathered, small losses and old repair. H:51cm W:18cm D:13cm

Versatile small 3 drawer chest circa 1970's very clean condition dovetail drawers .

Antique print titled ''Ernestus Ferreus Arch'. **Ernest the Iron (1377-1424)** Background: Ernest the Iron, also known as Ernst der Eiserne, was a member of the House of Habsburg....

16th Century Period Renaissance Tuscan Walnut Credenzino Italian 16th/17th century Renaissance walnut small Credenza with a rectangular top above a single drawer centered over a s...

A refined sixteenth century Brussels tapestry fragment showcasing stylized fruit and foliage in a beautifully aged palette of soft sand beige warm wheat tan golden taupe muted olive ...

A rare 16th Century Italian stone Corinthian half-capital, carved in Ligurian slate, mounted on a simple wrought iron bracket for wall hanging.

16th Century Brussels Tapestry Great condition beautiful color and design

Antique print Hungary titled 'Contrafehtung der Festung Tokay'. Birds eye view of the fortress Julaof Tokay, Hungary, surrounded with Turkish troops. Originates from a German edi...

France / 16th century / bridal or blanket chest / oak / Gothic This impressive chest was hand-carved in solid oak in the 16th century in France. The construction is typical of very...

RENAISSANCE BED in molded walnut with carved oval friezes and corner columns topped with Antique-style vases. The rectangular headboard features a moving pediment adorned with a shel...

France / 16th century / Chest / oak / Gothic A remarkable French Gothic oak chest dating from the 16th century, showcasing intricate hand-carved detailing throughout its façade. The...

Antique Tudor/Elizabethan oak six plank boarded coffer/sword chest, circa 1540. The coffer from the period of King Henry VIII having a hinged lid enclosing a storage area lined with...

A wall hanging tapestry, simply put, is a textile specifically designed and woven to portray an artistic scene with the intent of hanging it on a wall. Antique tapestries, those that...

Belgium / 19th Century / cupboard / oak / Neo-gothic / Antique Flamboyant gothic style cupboard with 4 doors, handcrafted in Belgium. We found this exceptional piece in the Belgian...

A truly exceptional pair of Memento Mori 'remember you must die' painted on board, these date to the 16th century and were originally housed in an North Italian Monastery, this incre...

16th century lost wax cast bronze Venugopala form of Krishna, India The Venugopala form of Krishna playing the flute is to Vaishnavite iconography what Nataraja is to the Shaivites:...

Stunning oak statue of Saint John the Evangelist. France circa 1550-1650 , Beautiful weathered oak. Christian tradition says that John the Evangelist was John the Apostle. He was on...

A rare German late Gothic brass candlestick (Spulenleuchter), dating to around 1500. This finely crafted piece features a broad circular base with a gently sloping profile, supportin...

This is a very old Japanese wooden Buddhist sculpture. It is believed to date back to the Muromachi period (14th–16th century) and has quietly existed alongside people’s prayers for ...

An exceptional and visually arresting set of twelve early playing cards, dating to the late 16th century and originating from Austria. Executed in traditional woodblock print and delicately hand-painted, this rare group beautifully reflects the transition from the Late Gothic period into the Early Renaissance in Central Europe. Each card displays remarkable period detail, particularly in the finely rendered court figures dressed in late 15th-century attire- short doublets and jerkins, tight hose, puffed and slashed sleeves, feathered caps, and stylized armor elements. The costumes embody the expressive elegance of Late Gothic fashion while hinting at the emerging Renaissance aesthetic north of the Alps. The surviving hand-coloring- earthy reds, deep blues, muted greens, and warm ochres- enhances the strong linear quality of the woodcut technique. The natural wear, surface patina, and scattered losses visible in the images attest to the cards’ age and authentic use, adding to their historical character and collectible appeal. The sizes of the cards are irregular. The set includes a mix of pip and court cards, with beautifully stylized suit symbols and dynamic figural compositions. The expressive faces and exaggerated silhouettes are characteristic of 16th-century Austrian and Southern German printmaking traditions. Accompanied by an antique wooden storage box...

A Rare Ducal "Armada" Strongbox (Travelling Safe) wrought iron with original polychrome painted decoration, Nuremberg, late Renaissance, late 16th / early 17th century An exceptionally rare and highly original late-Renaissance Nuremberg iron...

A rare 16th Century Flemish Verdure Feuilles de Choux Tapestry Panel (Oudenaarde or Enghien) Feuilles de Choux (cabbage leaves in French) t...

Elizabethan , Joined Oak , Court Cupboard Circa 1600 . Elizabethan carved cup and cover columns , original candle shelf , two upper doors and central panel beautifully inlaid with ho...

Rare and impressive PERIOD Elizabethan dining table of substantial size. The top is made from four planks, and is banded at the ends to prevent shrinkage. The apron is hand carved ...

Belgium / 16th Century / cabinet / oak / Antique / Rustic Primitive Antique cabinet in full oak. Hand crafted and carved in the 16th Century in Belgium. Crafted from blond solid oak...

A rare 16th century Flemish Verdure Feuilles de Choux tapestry. Feuilles de Choux (cabbage leaves in French) tapestries include large leav...

This rare Venetian frame entirely carved in high-relief shows a rich decor of scrolls, garlands, daisy flowers and thistles. At the four corners of the frame are depicted large acant...

This is a Chinese handcrafted porcelain provincial jar or vase, all hand painted in cobalt blue and dating to the Ming period of the early 16th century or possibly earlier. The jar ...

AN EXCEPTIONAL SPANISH COLONIAL VARGUEÑO OR BARGUEÑO, tortoiseshell, ebony, engraved ivory and Colonial hardwood, Spain, late 16th / early 17th century (cabinet) An exceptional and ...

16th Century Spanish Terracotta Vase Hand made marks around the vase.

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...

A highly important engraved Islamic combination locking brass casket, based on a design by the 12th Century Arab inventor & artist Ismail Al Jazari. Circa...

Rare late 15th or early 16th century Mudejar tile of the so-called ‘Arista’ technique with intricate geometric decoration. Good condition; some chipping to the edges, some wear to ...

Japanese Koto Wakizashi Sword Japan Ca. 1400-1600s Length: 24.25” Blade Total Length: 27.25 Nagasa: 18.5” Koto wakizashi, with wild midare (Soshu?) hamon, including wild boshi. Hada indeterminate, with Shakudo & gold dragon menuki, beehive design fuchi kashira...

An elegant fine stoneware bottle vase with underglaze blue painted decoration depicting stylized flowers and foliage in a style typical of Vietnamese production from Chu Đậu (Hải Dươ...

Antique 16th Century Egyptian Cairene Rug

Antique 16th Century Carved Wood Reliquary Table Lamp, a stunning piece that seamlessly blends history with functionality. This magnificent reliqu...

An antique Italian pair of Corinthian Capitals from the Renaissance period, hand carved in limestone. Minor fading, scratches due to age. Wear consistent with age and use. Circa 1500...

A rare and beautifully preserved 15th-century German crossbow, created as a true weapon of war or defense,.This piece is a remarkable survival from the Gothic period, with all of its...

A remarkable ensemble of six antique wrought iron door locks dating from the late Renaissance through the Baroque period (16th/ 17th century). These large and highly decorative locks...

This magnificent 16th-century German two-hand sword is a rare and historically important ceremonial weapon, hand crafted by renowned blade-smith Christoph Stantler (active circa 155...

An extraordinarily rare and visually striking 16th-century Venetian iron treasure coffer, showcasing the height of Renaissance artistry and engineering. Crafted in the early to mid-1...

Biblia cum concordantijs veteris & novi testamenti & sacrorum canonum, 1519 A Bible by auteur Alberto da Castello, printed by Luca-Antonio Giunta, Latin Anno 1519, Venice 27-532-55 pages First alphabetical list- Tabula Tertia, after that comes the 1st full page woodblock plate. This title page in red and black with a surrounded frame in woodcut. Above the page “San Jerome” illustrated and below the page the printers mark “ Giunti’s Mark” from the family of printers in Florentine. The initials L A of Luca-Antonio Giunta. After this page starts a full-page woodcut illustration after that are 3 pages not numbered and then starts numbered page 2 – 532 On page 401 is also a full-page woodcut plate There are ca 345 small woodcuts...

An exceptional and rare Gothic-Renaissance memento mori, sculpted in marble and surmounted by an original iron cross, originating from Austria, 16th century. Carved from solid marble...

Spanish 16th Century Renaissance Ecclesiastical Wood Carved Tabernacle, The Pelican in her Piety. Magnificent polychrome and gilded wooden Tabernacle with a masterfully hand carved ...

A Flemish tapestry from the late 16th century, with the renowned Roman general, Scipio at left, after having conquered Carthage in the Battle of Zama, en...

A quite large 16th century Italian so called 'coffre fort' . Coffers or chest like these were specifically made for cities or large villages to safegueard the gold and valuables. The...

Rare Venetian 16th century Italian traveling jewelry chest profusely decorated in Arabesque black and gilt decoration featuring rare specimen stone drawer fronts in a Palladian archi...