French and English furniture : $b distinctive styles and periods described and illustratedSingleton, Esther
History
French and English furniture : $b distinctive styles and periods described and illustrated
Singleton, Esther
Furniture -- England; Furniture -- France
We should naturally expect to find fine examples of Italian-made Louis
XIII. cabinets among the possessions of the magnificent Cardinal
Mazarin. In fact, the inventory of his goods mentions many such. One is
thus described: “An ebony cabinet having a little moulding on the sides,
quite plain outside, the front being divided into three arcades, in the
middle of which are six niches, in four of which, in the lower row, are
four virgins of ebony bearing bouquets of silver, the said doors being
ornamented with eight columns of veined lapis-lazuli, the bases and
capitals of composite order in silver, the fronts of the doors and the
rest of the cabinet being ornamented with various pieces, viz.,
cornalines, agate and jasper, set with silver; and above the arcades are
three masks in jasper and twelve roses of the same mixed with six oval
cornalines; the remainder is ornamented with silver let into the ebony
in cartouche and leaf-work.”
Another cabinet owned by Cardinal Mazarin was of ebony, the cornice
ornamented with copper gilt, resting on four copper lions silver gilt,
the base of lapis-lazuli with a dome between two pilasters ornamented
with ten miniatures. In the centre on the door, Apollo was represented;
on the front of the drawers, the Nine Muses; and, on the four corners of
each drawer, a medal showing portraits of two ancient and two modern
poets. These were covered with Venetian crystal and enclosed in a little
cornice with festoons of copper, silver gilt. The cabinet was of two
sections and stood on eight columns of pear-wood stained black. It was 3
feet, 1 inch high; 3 feet wide; and 1 foot, 2 inches deep.
Two other ebony cabinets, both known by the name of “_Cabinet de la
Paix_,” also belonged to the Cardinal. One of these was made by Dominico
Cussey. This was of ebony inlaid with metal and was almost entirely
covered with jasper, lapis-lazuli and agates. In front, it was enriched
by four figures representing heroes, of bronze gilt on a background of
lapis-lazuli. In the centre, there was a portico supported by two
columns of lapis-lazuli with base and capitals of gilt bronze, having on
the frontispiece the arms of France crowned and supported by two
angels,—all in gilt bronze on a background of lapis-lazuli. In the depth
of the portico, there was a statue of Louis XIII. seated and holding in
his left hand a shield with the device of His Majesty. Beneath his feet,
there were a carpet and a cushion,—all in gilt bronze. In the top part
of the cabinet there was a little niche which contained the figure of
Peace that gave the cabinet its name. The cabinet stood upon a gilded
wooden base supported in front by two pilasters on an azure background,
and four figures representing “the four principal rivers of the world.”
The whole was 8 feet high; 5 feet, 3 inches wide; and 19 inches deep.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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