Flemish cabinet in ebony and tortoise shell veneer, Antwerp 17th century

Rectangular cabinet veneered with ebony, blackened wood and rosewood, the front drawers with red tortoiseshell veneer framed with ivory nets adorned with ebony moldings.
The upper part is surmounted by an openwork gallery decorated with ebony, tortoiseshell and gilded turned wood balusters.
It opens on the front with five small drawers, one medium and two large, as well as a leaf revealing six small drawers and a secret in ebony and rosewood veneer, with its splendid old elements of brass hardware. The sides are veneered with rosewood and ebony arranged in tiles.
It rests on a base veneered with ebony, blackened wood, tortoiseshell, rosewood and ivory or bone fillets supported by five twisted columns joined by crosspieces.

Antwerp, late 17th century.

(Shell specimen in accordance with regulation EC 338/97 art 2wmc of 9/12/1996).

Very good state of integrity.


Originally, the cabinet was a portable box for storing precious objects and documents.
The evolution of the furniture will see it become a luxurious piece, made of precious materials, intended to receive collectibles.
Most of the cabinets were made in Italy, Germany or Flanders.
The ceremonial piece received the most expensive materials of the time. Regarding our practice, it will be the red tinted tortoiseshell, the material of choice for Antwerp cabinet makers, ebony and rosewood, the most expensive exotic woods of the period.

Because of the prohibitive cost of tinted tortoiseshell and ebony, only the most "visible" parts were generally adorned with it, the rest of the furniture being no less treated with great care and extreme refinement.