Cabinet Decorated with Episodes from the Old Testament

…; sale, The Laat Collection, Laag-Keppel, Hilversum (A.J. Olthoff), 7 February 1950 sqq., no. 505, fl. 3,600, to the museum

ObjectNumber: BK-16434

This elaborately decorated cabinet displays twenty-three scenes from the Old Testament painted on marble supports 5 mm thick and shaped to the appropriate openings; they are surrounded by filigree framing elements which only slightly overlap the marble.

The individual subjects and measurements are as follows: on the fronton, Aaron in the Tabernacle (Exodus 29:5-6), arched top, 19.5 x 11.5 cm. The portico: on the left door, obverse, the Adoration of the Golden Calf with Moses Holding the Tablets of the Law and Joshua nearby (Exodus 32:1-18), arched top, 23.5 x 13.5 cm; on the right door, obverse, Moses and Aaron before the Brazen Serpent in the Camp of the Israelites (Numbers 21:7-9), arched top, 23.5 x 13.5 cm. Below the left door: God Commanding Noah to Enter the Ark (Genesis 7:1), rectangular, 6.5 x 13.5 cm; below the right door: The Token of God’s Covenant Appearing to Noah (Genesis 9:11-16), rectangular, 6.5 x 13.5 cm. Above the doors, God Appearing to Moses in a ‘Thick Cloud’ (Exodus 19:9), oval, 5.7 x 13.9. On the reverse of both doors, God Creating the Fish, Birds and Beasts (Genesis 1:21-25), gabled tops, 14.5 x 9 cm and 14.5 x 11 cm.

Left-hand range of drawers,¹¹The arrangement of the pictures in this range of drawers differed in 1991, see R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: typologische en historische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 53, Brussels 1991, fig. 33. from the top: Judah and Tamar (Genesis 3:12-18), octagonal, 7 x 22 cm; The Tenth Plague of Egypt, the Death of the Firstborn (Exodus 11:5-6), octagonal, 7.5 x 22 cm; Moses’s Spies Returning from Canaan (Numbers 13:17-23), octagonal, 7.5 x 22 cm; Abraham’s Servant Meets Rebekah at the Well (Genesis 24:10-18), octagonal, 7.5 x 22 cm. Left-hand double drawer, Lot and his Daughters (Genesis 19:30-32), rectangular, 5.5 x 19.5 cm, and God Appearing to Moses in the Burning Bush (Exodus 3:2), rectangular, 6 x 19.5 cm. Right-hand range of drawers,²²The arrangement of the pictures in this range of drawers differed in 1991, see R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: typologische en historische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 53, Brussels 1991, fig. 33. from the top: The Angel of the Lord Barring the Way to Balaam’s Ass (Numbers 22:1-35), octagonal, 7.5 x 22 cm; The Finding of Moses (Exodus 2:5-9), octagonal, 7.5 x 22 cm; Abraham and Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18-19), octagonal, 7.5 x 22 cm;³³Described in the 1976 museum catalogue as the Meeting of David and Abigail (1 Samuel 25:18-20, 23-24). Esau Selling his Birthright (Genesis 25:29-34), octagonal, 7.5 x 22 cm. Right-hand double drawer, left, The Angel Appearing to Hagar (Genesis 21:14-19), rectangular, 6 x 19.5 cm, and Simeon and Levi Slay Shechem with Hamor and Dinah Looking on (Genesis 34:25-26), rectangular, 6 x 19.5 cm.

Beneath the apron of the stand: Adam, Eve and Abel (Genesis 4:1), rectangular, 4.5 x 16.5 cm; Moses and Joshua before the Camp of the Israelites (Exodus 32:17-18), rectangular, 5 x 16.5 cm;⁴⁴Described by Fabri, see succeeding note, and the 1976 museum catalogue, as Lot Taking Leave of Abraham or Abraham and Lot on the Mountain (Genesis 13:5-9). Cain Slaying Abel (Genesis 4:8), rectangular, 4.5 x 16.5 cm.

Fabri has identified the prototypes on which the majority of scenes were based as engravings by Pieter Hendricksz Schut (1618/1619-1660/1680) after Matthäus Merian I’s (1593-1650) illustrated Bibles published by Nicolaes Visscher in Amsterdam in 1658 and 1682,⁵⁵R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: kunsthistorische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 57, Brussels 1993, p. 26; and the same author in R. Fabri, Meubles d’apparat des Pays-Bas méridionaux, XVIe -XVIIIe siècle, exh. cat. Brussels (La Genérale de Banque) 1989, pp. 91-98 for an illustrated explication. of which the latter has been consulted for this entry.⁶⁶Bybel printen, vertoonende de voornaemste historien der Heylige Schrifture, konstigh afgebeelt door Matthaeus Merian, en nu met veel treffelicke historien vermeerdert, aerdigh geteeckent en in koper gemaeckt door Pieter Hendricksz Schut (privilege dated 15 September 1682), Nicolaes Visscher, Amsterdam. See also R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: kunsthistorische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 57, Brussels 1993, pp. 19-20 and notes 20, 23-24, for the various other publications of the Merian originals. The figure of God and the (?) stork on the reverse of the right-hand door are copied from the print by Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630), The Creation of the World, in the 1613 edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses;⁷⁷S. Buffa (ed.), The Illustrated Bartsch XXXVI, New York 1983, p. 10, no. 638 (151). the sources for the Adoration of the Golden Calf on the obverse of the left-hand door, and for the Simon and Levi Slay Schechem have yet to be identified. For the most part, the prototypes are by no means followed exactly, for instance the landscape backgrounds are often greatly simplified and in some cases the format is altered.⁸⁸The page numbers given here of the prototype prints in the 1682 edition follow the order of the subjects given above; excepting the ones discussed below, these are pp. 55, 59, 2, 46, 36, 41, 58, 26, 21, 54, 60, 43, 28, 24.

Key details are omitted, for instance: the animals going into the ark in God Commanding Noah to Enter the Ark,⁹⁹Bybel printen ... in koper gemaeckt door Pieter Hendricksz Schut (privilege dated 15 September 1682), Nicolaes Visscher, Amsterdam, p. 11. the shoe and crook in God Appearing to Moses in the Burning Bush,¹⁰¹⁰Bybel printen ... in koper gemaeckt door Pieter Hendricksz Schut (privilege dated 15 September 1682), Nicolaes Visscher, Amsterdam, p. 46. Cain in Adam, Eve and Abel,¹¹¹¹Bybel printen ... in koper gemaeckt door Pieter Hendricksz Schut (privilege dated 15 September 1682), Nicolaes Visscher, Amsterdam, p. 7. where the sheep is also barely recognizable, and the tablets of the law held by Moses in Joshua and Moses before the Camp of the Israelites,¹²¹²Bybel printen ... in koper gemaeckt door Pieter Hendricksz Schut (privilege dated 15 September 1682), Nicolaes Visscher, Amsterdam, p. 56. in which the camp itself also has been omitted – maybe because this was the subject of the painting on the obverse of the left-hand door.

Baarsen has pointed out that the cabinetmaker’s intention was to create an overall impression;¹³¹³R. Baarsen, 17th-Century Cabinets, translated by J. Rudge, Amsterdam/Zwolle 2000, p. 32. this is borne out by the poor handling of the paintings, which is schematic at best and does not warrant close inspection. The two scenes depicting Noah,¹⁴¹⁴Bybel printen ... in koper gemaeckt door Pieter Hendricksz Schut (privilege dated 15 September 1682), Nicolaes Visscher, Amsterdam, pp. 11, 13. the Adam, Eve and Abel¹⁵¹⁵Bybel printen ... in koper gemaeckt door Pieter Hendricksz Schut (privilege dated 15 September 1682), Nicolaes Visscher, Amsterdam, p. 7. and Cain Slaying Abel,¹⁶¹⁶Bybel printen ... in koper gemaeckt door Pieter Hendricksz Schut (privilege dated 15 September 1682), Nicolaes Visscher, Amsterdam, p. 8. are particularly badly handled and may be the work of a second hand.

References to cabinets decorated with paintings on marble occur in documents of the Antwerp dealer Musson and Forchondt from 1671 to 1689,¹⁷¹⁷E. Duverger, ‘Nieuwe gegevens betreffende de kunsthandel van Matthijs Musson en Maria Fourmenois te Antwerpen tussen 1633 en 1681’, Gentse Bijdragen 21 (1968), pp. 5-273, esp. pp. 171, 173, 191; R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: typologische en historische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 53, Brussels 1991, pp. 93, 122, 125, 133-34, 174, 196, 219-20. in the latter year in addition four gilt ‘moors’ (presumably standing figures) are described in association with them.¹⁸¹⁸R. Fabri, ‘Du cabinet utilitaire au meuble d’apparat’, in R. Fabri, Meubles d’apparat des Pays-Bas méridionaux, XVIe -XVIIIe siècle, exh. cat. Brussels (La Genérale de Banque) 1989, pp. 15-45, esp. p. 93; R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: kunsthistorische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 57, Brussels 1993, p. 162. These archival references provide a timescale for a dating of the present cabinet. Fabri dates a very similar and related cabinet in the Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp, after 1659,¹⁹¹⁹R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: typologische en historische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 53, Brussels 1991, caption to fig. 31; on the KIKIRPA website it is dated 1650-1699, with the paintings wrongly given to Hans Jordaens III (c. 1595-1643). while Baarsen dates the Rijksmuseum cabinet circa 1680-90.²⁰²⁰R. Baarsen, 17th-Century Cabinets, translated by J. Rudge, Amsterdam/Zwolle 2000, p. 14 under no. 9. Fabri²¹²¹R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: kunsthistorische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 57, Brussels 1993, pp. 114-15; the cabinet is reproduced in R. Fabri, Meubles d’apparat des Pays-Bas méridionaux, XVIe -XVIIIe siècle, exh. cat. Brussels (La Genérale de Banque) 1989, p. 33. associates the journeyman painter Van Neeck (also spelt Neck and Neek) – who is not listed in the records of the Antwerp guild of St Luke – with the execution of the paintings. He is mentioned as having painted on marble supports for cabinets in invoices of 1675, 1676, and 1679.²²²²E. Duverger, ‘Nieuwe gegevens betreffende de kunsthandel van Matthijs Musson en Maria Fourmenois te Antwerpen tussen 1633 en 1681’, Gentse Bijdragen 21 (1968), pp. 5-273, esp. pp. 173, 191; R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: typologische en historische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 53, Brussels 1991, pp. 219-20. The earliest reference to him is of 1665 when he lived in the Hoogstraat, Antwerp.²³²³R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: kunsthistorische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 57, Brussels 1993, pp. 95-96. In an account submitted by the cabinetmaker Michiel Verbiest (active 1648-c. 1689 or later) of 1679, Van Neeck was paid fl. 22 for paintings for two cabinets,²⁴²⁴R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: typologische en historische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 53, Brussels 1991, pp. 219-20. while the marble supports were supplied by the sculptor Norbertus van den Eynde (1620-1674).²⁵²⁵R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: typologische en historische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 53, Brussels 1991, pp. 157, 219-20; R. Baarsen, 17th-Century Cabinets, translated by J. Rudge, Amsterdam/Zwolle 2000, p. 33.

The subjects of the paintings in the Plantin-Moretus Museum cabinet are also taken from early books of the Old Testament and derive from designs by Matthäus Merian I.²⁶²⁶R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: kunsthistorische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 57, Brussels 1993, pp. 19-26. They are very probably by the same hand as that which executed the majority of the paintings in the present cabinet. Baarsen suggests that these cabinets may have been made as pendants²⁷²⁷Following R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: kunsthistorische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 57, Brussels 1993, p. 26. for the Spanish market.²⁸²⁸R. Baarsen, 17th-Century Cabinets, translated by J. Rudge, Amsterdam/Zwolle 2000, p. 35. Only six other comparable cabinets are extant.²⁹²⁹Note RMA.

Gregory Martin, 2022

R. Fabri, Meubles d’apparat des Pays-Bas méridionaux, XVIe -XVIIIe siècle, exh. cat. Brussels (La Genérale de Banque) 1989, pp. 91-98; R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: typologische en historische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 53, Brussels 1991, p. 89 and fig. 33; R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: kunsthistorische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 57, Brussels 1993, pp. 114-15, 167; R. Baarsen, 17th-Century Cabinets, translated by J. Rudge, Amsterdam/Zwolle 2000, pp. 32-35, p. 64, no. 9, figs. 38-39, 43

1952, pp. 181-83, no. 140; 1976, pp. 695-96, no. RBK 16434 (Antwerp School?, ca. 1650)

G. Martin, 2022, 'anonymous, Cabinet Decorated with Episodes from the Old Testament, Antwerp, c. 1670 - c. 1690', in Flemish Paintings in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.56131