Maine Antique Digest March 2015

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Maine Antique Digest, March 2015 15-D
- FEATURE -
There was a time when roy-
als, aristocrats, and even
the simply wealthy competed
to assemble wonderful collec-
tions of curiosities, be they the
miracles and oddities of nature
or the product of man’s art and
artifice. These collections, or
at least the smaller components
thereof, were very often con-
tained in specially constructed
cabinets, and though they would
of course have been of a quality
that befitted the collection and
the collector’s status, there were
times when the cabinet, not the
collection, proved to have more
lasting attraction.
One such is the “Ballyfin Cab-
inet,” seen here, along with a
few close-up views of its decora-
tive elements and an old photo-
graph of the room it once graced.
Offered by Bonhams in a Euro-
pean furniture and decorative
arts sale of December 5, 2014, it
sold for $754,690.
Made by Elias Boscher, a cab-
inetmaker of Augsburg, around
1660 it is almost a curiosity in its
own right. It was designed and
constructed at a time when the
prestige of cabinetmakers from
the South German city was at its
peak, and its creations employed
the most fashionable, exclusive,
and, of course, expensive mate-
rials, sourced from far and wide.
The “Ballyfin Cabinet” is
predominantly constructed in
ebony, but even the back is dec-
orated with a complex geomet-
ric pattern of exotic woods with
pewter stringing (which may
indicate that it was never meant
to be positioned against a wall)
and has silver-gilt mounts, but it
is the pietra dura panels—mar-
ble inlaid with designs of birds,
plants and assorted ornament
in lapis lazuli and other hard-
stones—that are the real glory.
They are typical of the work of
the Galleria dei Lavori work-
shops, founded in 1588 by the
Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’
Medici.
Pietra dura
work in many
forms contin-
ued to be fash-
ionable into the
19th century
and such pieces
would have been
on many a Grand
Tourist’s shop-
ping list. This one
was bought by Sir
Charles Coote in
the early 19th cen-
tury and installed
in his country
house at Ballyfin
in County Laois,
Ireland. Though
the house itself
was sold in the
1920s, the cabinet
remained with the family until
June 2006, when it was first sold
by Bonhams and acquired by the
recent vendor.
The 33" wide and tall “Bally-
fin Cabinet” is fitted with some
40-plus drawers or compart-
The Cabinet, not the Collection
Believed to be of Austrian or South
German origin and to date from
circa 1700, the knives, forks, and carv-
ers of the case of ivory and steel cutlery
seen here—complete within its original
leather-bound case and sold for $74,385
at Sotheby’s on December 3, 2014—
have handles formed as Turks in tur-
bans. It was presumably influenced, if
not inspired, by the Battle of Vienna of
1683, at which the armies of the Holy
Roman Emperor found themselves hav-
ing to once again defend Vienna against
Ottoman forces.
The former won the day, but the threat
or reality of a Turkish army encamped at
the gates of the city was something that
had a profound and long lasting impact
on the cultural memory of the peoples
of this part of Europe, and Turkish influ-
ences were not restricted to physical
works of art. Turkish music, as repre-
sented by their military marching bands,
found its way into works by such com-
posers as Haydn and Mozart—the latter
in both opera, Die Entführung aus dem
Serail (The Abduction from the Sera-
glio), and his piano music, the famous
rondo “Alla Turca” from his Piano
Sonata No. 11 in A.
The Turks Who Came to Dinner
The “Ballyfin Cabinet” is a stun-
ning piece, but it is not particu-
larly large, and as this old pho-
tograph shows, it is almost lost
in the clutter of one of Ballyfin’s
grand rooms. It is tucked away
behind the white marble sculpture
of a seated figure on the right.
The “Ballyfin Cabinet” and two
details showing its complex and
decorative construction and
decoration.
ments—with exotic woods such
as amaranth and ebony used
along with locally sourced woods
such as ash, walnut, and maple,
together with pewter stringing,
some hidden but all lined with
exotic silks or intricate parquet-
ry work—and so complex is
its design and construction that
the Bonhams vendor only very
recently discovered a new com-
partment whilst showing off the
cabinet to his grandchildren.
Gerhardt Tribal Art
33 N. Broadway, Lebanon, Ohio 45036
513-836-0420
Bronze Bull signed by French artist A. Barye
1796-1875 15" length. Parisian foundry mark on base.
Price $3950
Exhibiting at the Heartland East Show
Howard County Fairgrounds
March 28th, 2015
ANGIBLES
Buy Where the Dealers Buy!
Open Daily 10am - 5pm
935 U.S. Route One, York, ME 03909
(Next to Maritime Antiques) • 207.363.7788
James Stewart (1951)
Oil on Canvas “Nude
Pinning Up Her Hair.”
Signed, dated 1996.
Measures 42 x 34 inches
sight. Excellent condition,
$1,200.