Kunst und Kunsthandwerk, Antiken

| 283 A Baroque cabinet with pewter plaques by Matthias Wallbaum, Augsburg, 2nd half of the 17th century The softwood body veneered in ebonised fruit­ wood with a border of rippled moulding. The rectangular casket on four curved feet, a draw­ er in the wide pedestal. Two hinged doors with the original engraved lock and brass escutch­ eons. The hinges replaced during the 19th cen­ tury. The top piece with a hinged lid (slightly warped), the original iron lock included but loose. The inside with a central, lockable com­ partment with a lockable door, surrounded by twelve small drawers. The fronts and insides of the doors decorated with pewter plaques in relief, set in ripple moulding. Allegorical recumbent female figures of the four seasons on the drawers, some repeated several times in identical form. Bacchanalian scenes with scantily clad antique-style dancers on the doors. Small defects and chipping in places, the edge of the plinth damaged on the left side. Mounted on a small 19th century stand in Baroque style. Ebonised wood, the panel bent at a right angle, with spirally fluted legs. Di­ mensions of the casket 52 x 51 x 30 cm. Height including table stand 126 cm. Matthias Wallbaum (1554 - 1632), a goldsmith in Augsburg, was famous for his family altars, bureaus and dressing tables in ebony and silver. He is known to have been involved in making the renowned Pomeranian art cabinet. He created the plaques used here with the de­ pictions of the four seasons, identical pieces to which can be found in several German muse­ ums, such as the Maximilian-Museum in Augsburg and the Bayerisches Nationalmu­ seum. The origin of the three larger plaques in the doors is uncertain; they may have been made by a second artist working at a later period. 270981 II - € 15.000 340