Cabinet with Chinese and American Motifs

This engaging cabinet incorporates brilliant color and imaginative scenes in emulation of the high-gloss lacquerware found in China or Japan. It was modeled after furniture imported to the Netherlands by the Dutch East India Company, and the painter took artistic liberties in the depiction of indigenous figures in newly 'discovered' worlds.

This cabinet was made by a Dutch craftsman to imitate the expensive lacquered Chinese and Japanese chests imported by the Dutch East India Company. The painter adapted some motifs, such as the pagodas on the drawer fronts, from Chinese porcelains, but the figures are only Asian by virtue of their long embroidered coats with sashes. The headwear, including feather headdresses, is completely fanciful. Some figures are actually Native Americans, adapted from engravings of 1584 reporting English explorations of Virginia.On the exterior side panels are remarkable adaptations of engravings recording a French expedition of 1564 to Florida. Young "Floridians" play competitive games while beautiful birds imaginative renderings of the bird of paradise from the East Indies swoop around them. The maker ...