Architectural Hardstone Cabinet

Architectural Hardstone Cabinet
Rome
Mid-17th century

Hardstones (Lapis Lazuli, Sicilian Jaspers, agate), ebony,
walnut, tortoise shell, silver, bronze and gilt-bronze
H 60 x W 71 x D 30.5 cm

This magnificent architectural cabinet with hardstones inlaid in a geometric design is part of a distinct group of cabinets which were executed in Rome in the middle of the 17th century. Not only highly prized at the time of their commission for their intrinsic value displaying the beauty of stones and the highly skilled Roman craftsmanship, they also appealed later to Grand Tourists in the 18th and 19th centuries and still to collectors today.

Related examples with a three-quarter gallery and similar escutcheons include
one sold at Sotheby's, London, 9 July 2014, lot 4 from the collection of the Dukes
Or Northumberland and another similar including a gallery above the central
cupboard door sold at Christie's London 3 November 2016.
Other cabinets from important collections and from the same group of Roman
I7th century cabinets with rich inlays are recorded in public and private
collections with the cabinet known as the 'Pope's Cabinet' in the Cabinet Room
at Stourhead, Wiltshire which once belonged to pope Sixtus V and the William
Beckford pietre dure cabinet which once belonged to the Borghese family representing the epitome or Roman hardstone cabinets.