TABLE CABINET  
Beltrán Ausó Collection


Ebony, walnut, inlaid with boxwood, pine, bronze and tortoiseshell
h: 66 cm; l: 106.5 cm; w: 37 cm
18th century

 

Italian style table cabinet made out of ebony sheets and walnut, with boxwood and pine adornments and decorated with bronze inlay decoration surrounding the whole of the front and drawers. It has rose coloured tortoiseshell marquetry, which was extracted in the form of small sheets from the shell of the Carey turtle in the Far East. This was highly valued in the 18th and 19th centuries and very popular during the Rococo period.

This piece of furniture is richly decorated on the outside with drawers (some with handles) and a reclining lid, which was used for keeping papers and smaller objects. This type of writing desk reached its peak of popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries. The decoration of this table cabinet is based on sheets of tortoise shell from the Carey turtle found in the Far East. This material was greatly appreciated in the 17th and 18th centuries and was used to create magnificent works of marquetry. Although it had already been used by the Romans, the use of this precious material increased significantly, when André Charles Boullé, the great French cabinetmaker used it for his magnificent Baroque works of marquetry with tortoiseshell and brass.
C.S.: 11215
Unpublished