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Artwork Details
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Title:Cabinet door
Date:ca. 1510–20
Culture:French
Medium:Leather, backed with linen; residue of a varnish; oak; iron.
Dimensions:H. 20.5 cm, W. 18.8 cm, D. 2.7 cm (with frame and back panel).
Classification:Woodwork
Credit Line:Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number:1975.1.1633
The rectangular panel represents a rare survival of early Renaissance leatherwork in the French cuir boulli technique. The wet material was manipulated and shaped by beating and pressing it into a mold. The surface refinement was achieved by cutting and tooling. Leather was often applied to bindings, as well as cases for small luxury items, but extant flat panels or furniture parts are uncommon.(1) The spandrels of the central egg-and-dart roundel showing a flat relief of a Roman emperor bear acanthus blossoms. Some sections of the upper face of the profile, such as the lips and nose, are missing, including an area that may have contained an escutcheon with a lock on its back that was forcefully broken off. Two round bent hinges and the iron handle hanging down like an oversize earring, nicely integrated into the elaborate helmet, point to the panel’s former use as a door. It may have been part of a small cabinet to store valuables, hence the aforementioned lock mechanism.(2) The ancient hero or warrior subject was a favorite Renaissance theme, and comparable designs in woodwork suggest a French origin for this piece.(3)
Catalogue entry from: Wolfram Koeppe. The Robert Lehman Collection. Decorative Arts, Vol. XV. Wolfram Koeppe, et al. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 222.
NOTES: 1. See Gall, Gunter. Ed. Deutsches Ledermuseum: Leder, Bucheinband, Lederschnitt, Handvergoldung, Lederwaren, Taschen. Katalog (Deutsches Ledermuseum) 1. Offenbach, 1974; see also Metropolitan Museum, 2006.71 (“Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 2005 –2006.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 64, no. 2 (Fall), p. 30). For a French cabinet covered in tooled leather, see Un temps d’exubérance: Les arts décoratifs sous Louis XIII et Anne d’Autriche. Exhibition, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 9 April – 8 July 2002. Catalogue by Daniel Alcouffe et al. Paris, pp. 420, 421, no. 299. 2. For cabinets with such door configurations, see Riccardi-Cubitt, Monique. The Art of the Cabinet, including a Chronological Guide to Styles. London, 1992, pp. 186 – 87. 3. Boccador, Jacqueline. Le mobilier français du Moyen Âge a la Renaissance. Saint-Just-en-Chaussee, 1988, figs. 60 – 62; Thirion, Jacques. Le mobilier du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance en France. Dijon, 1998, pp. 71 – 75; Wardropper, Ian. “The Flowering of the French Renaissance.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 62, no. 1, 2004, (Summer), p. 4. An English work was included in the sale at Sotheby’s Olympia, London, 22 May 2002, lot 296.
[Galleria Bellini, Florence]; acquired by Robert Lehman through Galleria Bellini in October 1955.
Petrus Christus (Netherlandish, Baarle-Hertog (Baerle-Duc), active by 1444–died 1475/76 Bruges)
1449
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