Description
An Italian Florentine Renaissance Carved Burl Walnut Fall-Front Writing Cabinet, Circa 1560, 16th century
From the Davanzatti Palace Museum in Florence
Height: 59 inches x 36 inches wide x 17-1/2 inches deep
(149.9 x 91.4 x 44.5 cm)
From the renaissance period in Northern Tuscan Florentine Italy; this very important and well documented drop front desk cabinet in carved burl walnut and has adorned the palaces of Florence for almost 500 years. This particular cabinet is beautifully proportioned at roughly 5 x 3 feet; hence will fit in almost any space and make it the focal point in any room.
PROVENANCE:
Collection of Professore Elia Volpi; The top collector, antiquarian, museum consultant and author of several books on the most important furniture of Europe.
The American Art Association, New York, Art Treasures and Antiquities Formerly Contained in The Famous Davanzati Palace, November 22, 1916, lot 311;
Collection of David Abbate;
CRN Auctions, Cambridge, Massachusetts, A Passion for the Renaissance, the estate of David Abbate, May 31, 2014, lot 130;
Acquired from the above by current owner. The collection of Frederick H. Schrader. Thence to Avantiques.
LITERATURE:
The American Art Association, Illustrated Catalogue of Art Treasures and Antiquities Formerly Contained in The Famous Davanzati Palace, New York, 1916, p. 154-155, no. 311. (Photos attatched)
H. Donaldson Eberlein and R. Wearne Ramsdell, The Practical Book of Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese Furniture, Philadelphia & London, 1927, plate 16, fig. B. (Photos attached)
Property from the Collection of Frederick H. Schrader
Condition Report: Overall presents well. Wear to velvet details of lock and latches. Wear to proper right front edge where latch sits. Marks of professional restoration to burlwood front. Lock mechanisms to interior cabinets no longer extant. Splits, nicks, and wormholes scattered throughout, as expected with age and material.
