Lacquered Venetian Cabinet Persian Decor late 16th century

Exceptional cabinet in lacquered and gilded wood, Venice, last quarter of the 16th century.
The architectural facade is centered on a tympanum supported by columns reminiscent of ancient temples, flanked by drawers. Also enonnes is hidden a secret drawer.
The whole surface is lacquered and gilded on a dark background with a decoration called “Persian”.

This furniture is decorated with “golden lacquer”, a painting that imitates, in the composition, the drafting technique and the ornamental motifs on which it was applied, that of objects lacquered from the Near East, Turco-Ottoman and Persian .

For a long time, studies have been devoted to the European lacquer of eighteenth century chinoiserie, imitating the Far East, Chinese and Japanese.

Professor A. González-Palacios has recently shown that the first lacquers produced in Europe were made in Venice in the second half of the 16th century, under the influence of models from the Muslim world.

In this history of cultural exchange between Venice and the Islamic East and the surprising adherence of the Serenissima workshops to models of Islamic art transferred to objects of Western design, a fundamental role has been played by the Islamic links, the main instrument transmission to Venetian craftsmen. oriental ornamental techniques and motifs. The sheer sumptuousness and splendor of Islamic manuscripts and Turkish-Ottoman and Persian bindings explain the impact of these works on lagoon craftsmen and the role played by humanists in spreading this art.

The connection between Islamic fixtures and Venetian lacquered objects has never been so clear as in Venetian cabinets whose exterior facades are designed as a framed binding.

There is a small wrought iron family stamp attached to the drawer.

Measured

L cm 27
W Cm 16
H cm 25