Ebony veneered cabinet, with ivory stringing and engraved ivory plaques

Rectangular cabinet with two doors and raised top containing cupboards and numerous drawers, veneered in ebony, with ivory stringing and engraved ivory plaques mostly telling the story of Romulus and Remus, derived from a series of engravings published by Giovanni Battista Fontana (1524 - 1587) in 1573 and dedicated to Arch Duke Ferdinand of Austria. The Metamorphoses images on the 10 drawers on the removeable central unit are (at least partially) derived from La Métamorphose d'Ovide figurée (Lyon 1557) with illustrations by Bernard Solomon.

Design
Rectangular cabinet with two doors and raised top section. The top section with a lifting panel revealing an undecorated well (17cm deep) fitted for five plain softwood drawers at the left sides (1 missing), five plain softwood drawers at the right side (2 missing) and sixteen plain softwood drawers along the front (all missing), ie 7 drawers survive of 26. The drawers with cord handles. The top-most drawer without a pull (presumably to conceal it), and secured through the back by a removeable(?) iron nail with quatrefoil head on the outside of the cornice. The crudeness with which this hole has been cut suggests that it may be a modification, perhaps necessary after the removal of the top-most box from the top section.

The two main doors (without a lock) open onto an interior of architectural form in four main tiers:
1) top tier (a series of tabernacles with pediment and volutes) with three large drawers separated by two sliding covers, each concealing 3 plain ebony-fronted drawers. Behind each bank of 3 drawers, accessed from within (the central drawer removed), are 3 secret, small plain drawers with cord pulls.
2) second frieze tier with five shallow drawers.
3) main tier (three large tabernacles, each flanked by a pair of columns), with three hinged doors, enclosing, in the centre a removeable unit of 10 drawers (one of which with a double front appears to be two), and on either side four ebony-fronted drawers with ivory stud handles and ivory stringing, above a fifth, similar drawer concealed behind a base frontage held by a metal pin. Behind each of the two, removeable columns at the far right and left are five small ebony-fronted drawers. Behind each of the two, fixed, narrow niches between the main three tabernacles, and set laterally, is a bank of twelve drawers; this is accessed via sliding panels to the mid-section, once the removeable unit has been withdrawn.
4) bottom pedestal tier with three large concealed drawers.

In total the cabinet was designed with seventy-seven drawers in the main body, and twenty-six in the top section (of which nineteen are missing).

The back is rosewood veneered with ivory stringing arranged in rectangular geometric patterns. The cabinet rests on four turned ebony(?) bun feet, which appear to be 20th century in date.

Construction
The carcase wood is mostly pine and cedar, with beech used in the blocks below the six columns and the fronts of the drawers. The drawers are finely constructed using dovetails, with the bottoms glued in place.

Iconographic design
The top of the cabinet is step-moulded with a deep cornice, below which are twelve medallions of the Twelve Caesars, starting off with Julius Caesar and ending with Domitian. The sides of the cabinet have two larger ivory plaques in the centre, representing episodes from the Sabine War, flanked with three smaller plaques on each side, the middle ones round and the upper and lower ones square, depicting the twelve months. Each door on the outside has one large ivory plaque in the centre, set in an inlaid aediculed frame of engraved ivory, and a series of smaller engraved ivory plaques at the sides, arranged like those at the sides of the cabinet. They depict various battle scenes presumably from the legend of Romulus and Remus, although these are the only large plaques without any inscriptions. All the plaques on both sides of each door are arranged in the same way as the sides, and they recount the Sabine War.

The doors open onto an interior horizontally divided into three main tiers containing large drawers and concealing series of smaller ones, and vertically divided into three broad and two narrow sections articulated with engraved ivory Corinthian columns, inscribed Fortitudo (courage), Iustitia (Justice), Spes (Hope), Prudentia (Foresight), Temperantia (Moderation), and Cognitio Dei Knowing God. The three larger doors in the central tier are decorated with ivory plaques telling of Romulus' capture of Caenina, Romulus' hanging a trophy of weapons on a sacred oak on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, and Romulus being carried up to the Heavens, while carrying out a review on the field of Mars. The smaller plaques depict Apollo and other deities, grotesques and earlier episodes in the lives of Romulus and Remus.

Inside the central door is a small removable cabinet with ten drawers (though appearing to have eleven) with ivory stud handles, and ebony and engraved ivory fronts, depicting various myths such as Nesus and Deianeira and Pan and Syrinx. To the sides of this small cabinet are ebony panels with broad, engraved ivory stringing, arranged in rectangular geometrical patterns. These slide forward to reveal twelve ebony and engraved ivory drawers with ivory stud handles on each side, decorated with hunting scenes.

Modifications
The top section reduced in height after 1880, with the loss of a lockable box about 10cm high, with engraved medallions and plaques.
A lockplate on the right door, and bolts in the left door removed after 1880, and the holes patched. The ivory plaque in this position, and present in 1981 was believed by Museum curators to be a modern addition (missing 4/12/1989, visible in photos c2006, missing 2009).
The urns of turned ivory on the inside of both doors added after 1880.
Evidence on cabinet sides of removal of one or more handles.
Support batten added on both sides of the cabinet, with modifications to one small drawer on both sides (concealed behind the columns at far right and far left).
At bottom of main tier (interior), the locking devices to the two frontages concealing a drawer now missing.
At top tier, the sliding covers rebuilt.
At second frieze tier, drawer at left repaired.

Drawer sizes (HWD cm)
Top section, internal, at ends: 3.4 x 24.8 x 6.6 (x2); 4.1 x 11.9 x 11.6 (x4); 6.6 x 12 x 17.7 (x4)
Top section, internal, along front: 3.9 x 13 x 7 (x4); 4.1 x 13 x 12 (x4); 6.7 x 13 x 18 (x4);
Internal, top tier: right and left drawers 13.7 x 20.5 x 34.8cm; two groups of three small drawers 13.7 x 22.6 x 35.2; central drawer 13.7 x 22.6 x 35.2; 6 secret plain drawers hidden behind the two banks of concealed drawers (size tbc)
Internal, second frieze tier: right and left outer drawers 2.8 x 21.7 x 35.1; right and left inner drawers 2.8 x 11.8 x 34.7; central drawer 2.8 x 24.7 x 34.1
Internal, main tier: two columns of five small drawers at right and left 5.5 x 4.1 x 29.2
two columns of four drawers behind left and right doors, 5.1 x 15.7 x 29.1; concealed drawer below 5.8 x 15.6 x 33.3
central mini-cabinet: 4.9 x 9.3 x 12.7 (x2), 4.8 x 6.1 x 12.8 (x3), 1.3 x 6.1 x 12.8 (x2), 4.7 x 6.1 x 12.8 (x2), 4.9 x 19.4 x 12.6 (single drawer with false double front)
two banks of 12 drawers concealed behind sliding panels to the left and right of the moveable central mini-cabinet: 5.3 x 11.4 x 11.7 (x2); 5.3 x 9.6 x 11.7 (x3), 5.2 x 9 x 11.7 (x4), 11.2 x 9.6 x 11.7 (x1), 4.7 x 14 x 11.7 (x2)

This cabinet was exhibited at the IVa Esposizione Nazionale de Belle Arte in Turin in 1880 and the 'Objects for a Wunderkammer', 10th June - 31st July 1981, before being acquired by the V & A. Some time between 1880 and 1981 the more ornate top to this cabinet (visible in photographs c1880) was reduced in size.

Historical significance
This cabinet is neither signed nor dated, unlike similar ebony and ivory examples in other public collections. Nevertheless, it is more sophisticated in shape and design than the box-like ebony and ivory escritorios fitted with drawers in a simple framework, more readily associated with Spain. It is a fine example of a distinctive type of furniture, made in significant quantities from about 1590 if not a little earlier, as exotic materials like ebony and ivory became more widely available. These surviving pieces indicate the skill of the cabinetmaker's craft, the virtuosity of his joinery and inlay, and the levels of sophistication of specialist ivory-engravers he employed. The borrowing of ideas from Giovanni Battista Fontana's engravings of the story of Romulus and Remus (1573) or hunting scenes included in Venationis piscationis et avcupii typi (1582) indicate how popular and widely used printed engravings were in Europe at this time. Although this cabinet is unlikely to have been a royal commission, King Philip II of Spain identified himself with King Romulus of Ancient Rome, the main decorative theme.

Attribution
The cabinet is attributed as probably by Iacopo Fiamengo (active 1594-1602) on the basis of close stylistic and technical similarities to other cabinets bearing engraved plaques signed by Giovanni Battista de Curtis (a Neapolitan engraver), who is known to have signed a contract in Naples with a cabinet-maker (scrittorista) called Iacopo Fiamengo in 1596 to engrave scenes from the Old Testament and from Ovid on two ivory cabinets. Fiamengo commissioned plaques from other ivory engravers in Naples c1594-6, and had a German apprentice Corrado Mayer in 1596, and an Italian, Natale Cassese (12 years old) in 1602. The name Iacopo Fiamengo would suggest that the craftsman was a Fleming with a name difficult for Neapolitans to pronounce, and it was at about this time, that German and Flemish cabinetmakers began to dominate the cabinetmaking trade. The various drawers ingeniously hidden in this object are a mark of the skill for which they were particularly famed.

In the catalogue of the Colnaghi exhibition (from which the cabinet was purchased by the V&A) A.González-Palacios attributed the engraving to Giovanni Battista de Curtis on the basis of a comparison between the central, internal panel with Romulus hanging a trophy of weapons on a sacred oak on the Capitoline Hill in Rome (and inscribed), and a panel with the same scene and inscription, signed by de Curtis, on a similar cabinet in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg. Jervis and Baarsen however rejected this attribution on the basis that the engraved style was different, 'less precise and more lively.'

Analogous cabinets
For a summary, see Jervis and Baarsen.

This type of furniture originated in Spain, where it was known as an escritorio (literally a writing desk). In Naples, one of her overseas possessions, a craftsman like Iacopo Fiamengo, who very likely made this piece, was referred to in documents as a scrittorista (or writing-desk maker). Cabinets from Augsburg were often made to store collections of curiosities, both natural and man-made, and were embellished with ebony veneers and silver mounts. The abundance of architectural ornament and engraved ivory plaques clearly indicate that this cabinet was also made for display and swagger. However, the number of ingeniously hidden compartments indicate that it was also used for storing confidential documents and small valuables rather than curiosities for the owner to pull out from an easily accessible drawer and show off to a like-minded visitor.

The combination of both ebony and ivory had long been considered luxurious if not decadent (viz. the ebony and ivory furniture associated with the court of Henri III of France and mentioned in the satire, L' Isle des Hermaphrodites , published in1605)). Nevertheless the number of surviving items from Naples veneered with ebony and engraved ivory would suggest that they were made for a more general market and not just as princely commissions. Both these materials became more widespread, particularly in Spain's European possessions, following her annexing of Portugal between 1580 and 1640, and gaining access to the ebony and ivory trade, which was centred in Lisbon and now in Seville as well. Ebony and Ivory cabinets feature in the 1598 inventory if Philip II of Spain and the 1616 and 1617 inventories of the Duke of Llerma. This item could have been made for the Spanish market, although it is more elaborate and architectural than the more simple cube-shaped cabinets associated with that country.

Although unsigned, this work is similar to a cabinet with ivory plaques decorated with a Mappa Mundi, signed by Iacopo de Curtis and dated 1597 in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. Although the Mappa Mundi engravings are of higher quality than those on the V & A cabinet, de Curtis is known to have signed at least two contracts in 1596 to supply engraved ivory plaques to Iacopo Fiamengo, described as a scrittorista or writing-desk maker. (See references). The illustrations are derived from a series of engravings on the story of Romulus and Remus, executed by Giovanni Battista Fontana, for Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in 1573.

After annexing Portugal in 1580, Spain gained a monopoly of trade in Indian ivory and ebony, the most luxurious furniture-making materials then available. By the 1590s cabinets with ebony veneers and engraved ivory plaques were the height of fashion in Spain. The best examples were made in Italy at Naples, the most important of Spain's territories in Europe, by cabinet-makers like Iacopo Fiamengo (active 1594-1602), who probably made this piece. This cabinet has a large number of drawers and compartments (77 altogether within the main body), some ingeniously hidden and used for concealing small valuables and documents. This is a very early example of a feature shared with cabinets from Flanders (today in northern Belgium), a region from which Iacopo Fiamengo (literally 'Fleming') almost certainly originated.

W.36:1, 2-1981