Cabinet
About 1640
Medium
Ebony, ivory, pine, oak, fruitwood, walnut, iron, steel, silver, brass, gilded brass, tinned brass, glass, paper, silk textile, and bone
Dimensions
Doors Open: 155 × 179.8 × 60.4 cm (61 × 70 3/4 × 23 3/4 in.)
Classification
case furniture
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
34116
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This cabinet, with its architectural design evoking a tabletop palace, is among the largest of its kind. Its ornate decoration combines ebony wood and elephant ivory brought to Germany from Africa. So scarce and valuable were these materials in Europe that here only a thin veneer of ebony covers a carcass of locally sourced pine. This sophisticated method of veneering was perfected in the economic hub of Augsburg, where cabinetmakers worked closely with metalsmiths to develop tempered-steel saws...