Spanish Bone Cabinet
Dublin Core
Title
Spanish Bone Cabinet
Description
Although the form of this piece has been significantly altered by multiple restorations, it seems to be a Papelera, a smaller version of the classic Spanish Vargueño omitting the fall-front. It includes decorative panels on drawers with Old Testament and hunting scenes, pyro-engraved on bone (possibly ivory?). Body of various woods including ebony, pine, walnut, and rosewood. Likely intended to be used to house papers, with a secret compartment for sensitive documents and valuable objects, the object was probably first used on a small walnut table with turned legs and iron supports.
Creator
Bears stylistic similarities to work from circle of artists in Spanish Naples, led by cabinetmaker Jacobus Fiamengo and engraver Giovanni Battista de Curtis; either originates with this group or is a Spanish emulation of this style.
Most likely constructed in Spanish-controlled Naples or possibly Toledo region of Spain; images likely adapted from Dutch prints.
Most likely constructed in Spanish-controlled Naples or possibly Toledo region of Spain; images likely adapted from Dutch prints.
Items in the Spanish Bone Cabinet Collection
History and Origins: Emergence and Evolution of the Form
Cabinets and writing desks appear, differentiated by the peculiarities in taste and materials prevalent in their places of origin, throughout the furniture of Renaissance and Baroque Europe, fulfilling a spectrum of purposes from practical to…
History and Origins: Describing the Typology
Looking at the object in the Mead’s collection, finding terminology to describe the form of the cabinet becomes increasingly complicated as more aspects of the item’s history are revealed. The term that can most safely be applied is escritorio…
Materials and Construction: Restorers' Modifications
Luckily, a decent amount of investigation has actually been made into the form of this specific cabinet due to it’s being the subject of a 1979 student analysis; unluckily, the analysis demonstrates inconsistencies that threaten the object’s…
Materials and construction: The Face of the Cabinet
Each drawer is decorated with a panel of pyro-engraved bone framed in ebony; the narrative scenes depicted all derive from Samuel I with the exception of the central panel, which shows the story of Noah's sacrifice, and some purely decorative floral…
Function and Use: Protection versus Display
Early Spanish coffers and vargueños were designed with security at heart; they were portable fortresses with multiple levels of protection and thus often contained little external decoration save for intricate iron locks whose value sometimes…