An Italian engraved bone and ebony veneered travelling writing box, Naples, late 16th/early 17th century

Comparative literature

Giuseppe Beretti, Con l'ebano e l'avorio : Giobvanni Battista De Curtis, Iacopo Fiamengo e lo stipo manierista napoletano, Milan, 2020.

Alvar González-Palacios, Il tempio del gusto, Roma e il regno delle due Sicilie, Vol. II.

This casket is typical of the ebony veneered furniture embellished with engraved ivory or bone plaques which emanated from Naples from the mid 1590’s until the 1640’s. Naples was under Spanish rule in the early 17th century and after annexing Portugal in 1589, Spain, secured the monopoly of importing from Goa ebony and ivory, both highly prized materials (Christopher Wilk, Western Furniture 1350 to the present day in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1996, p.50). Ivory engraving became a specialty in Naples, however, during this period Spanish cabinet-makers also executed similar pieces.

Traditionally attributed to Giovanni Battista de Curtis, Iacobo Fiamengo (active 1594-1602) and Theodore de Voghel, all of whom were active in Naples around 1600, examples of these furniture pieces in this technique are illustrated by Palacios, op. cit., pp. 182-192. Whilst biblical and mythological scenes and the overall decorative composition are extremely similar to those found on a few pieces of their output, the lack of a signature on the offered example does not enable a definitive attribution.

A similar writing box is in the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Palazzo Pitti, Florence (ill. Curiosita di una reggia: Vicende delle guardaroba di Palazzo Pitti, exh.cat., Florence, 1979, p. 48). Other examples worth comparing are:

-a table cabinet, particularly the decoration on the top with several lines running between the square vignettes at the corners and the ovals, in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (acc. nr. 1930-1-188);

-a table cabinet, see the decoration to the sides and the reverse of the doors, in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (acc. nr. W.36:1 to 59-1981);

-a cabinet-on-stand, primarily the external panels with square-shaped vignettes at the corners, in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, with the signature of De Curtis on the main ivory panels (Palacios, op. cit., pp.182-183).

-and finally, there are several examples that showcase the inclusion of a central line across the engraved bone vignettes, see a table cabinet in a private collection, Madrid (Palacios, op. cit., p.188), a cabinet at Gallerie Doria Pamphilj (Palacios, op. cit., p.189) and a table cabinet sold at Christie’s, New York, 20^th October 2006, lot 780.