The shape of this colorful cabinet is very close to that of late seventeenth-century Dutch examples and its masterfully-executed polychrome decoration is clearly influenced by lavish floral still lives created in marquetry on such pieces of furniture at the time. As the vessels and the flowers painted on this cabinet all have an oriental, particularly Chinese, rendering, it is also possible that the maker of this lot was imitating luxurious Chinese laquer that was often used in European furniture in late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
From the middle of the seventeenth century onwards, painted furniture was made in the Northern parts of The Netherlands. The main centers of manufacture for these pieces where to be found in the Zaanstreek, a region in the north of Holland, the city of Hindeloopen and on the island of Ameland.
In major cities like Amsterdam these pieces were made by members of the so called witwerkers. They were organized in a guild and were only allowed to produce furniture which was made out of soft-woods, such as pine. In addition to making practical objects like chests and trunks, they also made cabinets. Subsequently these pieces were then painted by other specialized craftsmen. Unfortunately, as there were no guilds in the provinces, and due to the lack of information from written sources, we know little about how furniture making was organized in the countryside.