Important William and Mary Burr Walnut Seaweed Marquetry Cabinet on Stand

Important William and Mary Burr Walnut Seaweed Marquetry Cabinet on Stand

An Extremely Rare William and Mary Burr Walnut and Seaweed Marquetry Cabinet on Stand, Attributed to Gerrit Jensen, circa 1690

An exceptional late 17th-century English burr walnut and seaweed marquetry cabinet on stand, attributed to the Royal cabinetmaker Gerrit Jensen, remarkable for the extraordinary extent and quality of its decoration, untouched surface and exceptional state of preservation.

The cabinet is veneered throughout in richly figured burr walnut, carefully selected and arranged to provide a ground for elaborate panels of fine scrolling seaweed marquetry. The
marquetry extends across the doors, sides, concealed cushion drawer, interior and stand.

The moulded cornice sits above a cushion-moulded frieze drawer and a pair of panelled doors, each centred by a large shaped reserve of tightly worked scrolling marquetry surrounded by further geometric and foliate panels.

Significantly, the sides are treated with equal attention, demonstrating the exceptional expense and importance of the cabinet when originally commissioned.

Opening the doors reveals a spectacular fitted interior of drawers arranged around a central cupboard, almost every available surface is decorated with further marquetry. The inside faces of the doors are particularly accomplished, each centred by a large shaped panel of densely worked scrolling foliage, surrounded by subsidiary reserves and broad foliate borders.

The cabinet is raised on its matching stand, fitted with a long frieze drawer and supported on boldly drawn double-scroll legs united by shaped stretchers and terminating in bun feet. The marquetry continues onto the stand and legs.

Of particular importance is the cabinet’s remarkably untouched surface. The walnut has acquired a deep, mellow colour and patination developed naturally over more than three centuries. Combined with the remarkably well-preserved marquetry and exceptional overall condition.

The cabinet is attributed to Gerrit Jensen (c.1635-1715), cabinetmaker to the Royal Household, one of the most important cabinetmakers working in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Jensen supplied highly sophisticated furniture to the Royal Court and leading aristocratic patrons, and his workshop became particularly associated with exceptionally accomplished veneered and marquetry cabinet furniture.

Closely related cabinets survive in some of Britain’s and America’s most important collections, including Chatsworth House in the collection of the Dukes of Devonshire, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Noel Terry Collection at Fairfax House, York. The existence of these comparable examples provides an important context for the quality and significance of the present cabinet.

The extraordinary quantity and intricacy of the marquetry, superb burr walnut, exceptional preservation and, above all, its wonderfully untouched surfaces place this amongst the finest examples of late 17th-century English cabinet furniture to appear on the market.

English, circa 1690.

Attributed to Gerrit Jensen (c.1635-1715), Royal Cabinetmaker.