ATTRIBUTED TO MATTHIJS HORRIX, CIRCA 1790

The combination of exotic veneers with black inlays is typical of Dutch Neoclassical furniture of the late eighteenth century. Types of rosewood were particularly popular and they were most often accented with black Asian lacquer or ebony, as well as ebonized, panels. On case furnishings, this type of decoration was sometimes further embellished with delicate penwork in the Etruscan style inspired by contemporaneous English models. Probably developed in The Hague, where novelties in furniture-making were often first introduced, this technique was possibly invented by the celebrated cabinetmaker Matthijs Horrix (1735-1809). Horrix, who became meester kabinetwerker in 1764, was the principal supplier of furniture to the Stadtholder's Court between 1767 and 1795. He received a commission from Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia - the Stadtholder's consort who admired Horrix's work - in 1780 for '...Comodes wozu ihm Chinesisch Lackwerk geliefert', for which he received 557 florins. Works by Horrix featuring similarly restrained Neoclassical lines and light-colored veneers with ebony and red accents include a pair of demilune console tables sold Christie’s, London, 16 April 2014, lot 20; a fire screen illustrated in A. Hostede, Nederlandse Meubelen, s.l., 2004, p. 208, fig. 363; and a pair of tables in the Chinese Kamer at the Dutch Royal Palace, Huis ten Bosch, The Hague, see R. Baarsen, “In de Commode van Parijs tot Den Haag,” Oud Holland, vol. 107, 1993, no. 2, p. 173, fig. 4.