Lot 168 | Cologne | MUSEUM OAKWOOD CABINET WITH EVANGELISTS

MUSEUM OAKWOOD CABINET WITH EVANGELISTS.

Cologne.
Date: Second quarter 17th c.
Technique: Oak carved. The three drawers in the middle behind a secret door of softwood.
Description: Rectangular, two-door base with cranked plinth area on pressed ball feet. On the doors,
under arched architecture, the Evangelist Luke with the bull and St John with the eagle in
bold relief. On the bevelled corners and in the centre, pilaster-like stelae with fruit
hangings, mascarons and herms and caryatids. Above, two domed drawers with grimaces and
tendril relief. The recessed superstructure again has two doors on the sides, this time
with the evangelists Matthew and Mark. In between is a secret door with an angel playing
music, with three small drawers concealed behind it. Between the doors again pilasters
with herms and caryatids. On the sides, two fully sculpted caryatids as the cardinal
virtue Prudentia with the serpent and the theological virtue Spes with the anchor. The
cranked, final cornice now with large cherub heads or putti heads on volute brackets.
Measurement: 179x147x69cm.
Enclosed: Key.

Literature:
- Colsman, Elda: Möbel Gotik bis Jugendstil. Die Sammlung im Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln, Stuttgart 1999, p.176, cat. no.94.
- Hoppe, Britta: Geschnitzte Überbauschränke des 17. Jahrhunderts, Bonn 1999. On the evangelist cupboards see especially p.102ff.

A variant of this cabinet is in the collection of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Cologne, also with the four Evangelists and the allegories of the virtues of Prudence and Hope. Like another, very similar superstructure cabinet from the collection of the Cologne City Museum (inv. no. KSM 1976/26), these three seem to come from the same Cologne workshop.