Ornamental Renaissance cabinet

160 x 118 x 54 cm.
Central France, late 16th century.

This small walnut cabinet, which opens at the front with four hinged doors and two drawers at the bottom, is richly ornamented. It stands on a profiled base decorated with wide palmettes. The side galleries are decorated with finely executed leaf garlands. A laurel-wreathed male herm rests on the central pilaster, standing on a shaft with a long carved leaf decoration. They frame the double doors, on which a ribbon decoration unfolds, delimiting three medallions. One of these is round and decorated with a rose, framed at the top and bottom by two half acanthus leaves. The panels are set into profiled frames surrounded by a laurel frieze.
The lower section contains two drawers decorated with two long stylized acanthus leaves. They are separated by three consoles.
The upper part of the cabinet, structured in a triple rhythm, rests on a panel decorated with palmettes. The busts of the three herms - male at the ends and female in the middle - separating the hinged doors rest on shafts decorated with leaves. Remainder. (1410973) (1) (13)