Unidentified artists
Cabinet (Papelera)circa 1700

On view:

Geffen Galleries, The Iberian World: From Spain to Spanish America

Ebonized wood cabinet with open doors, densely inlaid with cream-white mother-of-pearl or ivory strapwork and medallions, revealing multiple small drawers inside

Ebonized wood cabinet with two doors, densely inlaid with ivory or bone scrollwork and floral arabesques, accented with small blue stone medallions, resting on turned bun feet.

Ebonized wood table cabinet with dense white inlay, likely ivory or bone, in scrolling foliate and geometric patterns; two exterior doors flank a central section of small drawers, right door shown open; rests on turned bun feet.

Ebonized wood table cabinet with two doors, one open to reveal small interior drawers, densely decorated with intricate white mother-of-pearl and ivory marquetry in scrolling foliate and geometric patterns, with blue hardstone roundel accents, resting on turned bun feet.

Ebonized wood table cabinet with two open doors, revealing multiple small drawers decorated with elaborate white bone or ivory inlay in floral and geometric patterns; matching inlay covers the door interiors and flat top surface; raised on turned bun feet.

Ebonized wood cabinet with two open doors revealing multiple small drawers, densely inlaid with white mother-of-pearl floral and geometric medallions across doors, drawer fronts, and top surface; resting on turned bun feet.

Small black lacquered cabinet on turned bun feet, front face adorned with elaborate pierced silver mounts at corners and center, two large ornate silver escutcheon plates each set with a blue enamel oval medallion, and a silver bail-ring handle between them.

Ebonized wood cabinet on bun feet, front face mounted with elaborate pierced silver filigree escutcheons and corner mounts, two oval blue enamel medallions at center, and a silver bail handle.

Wooden chest seen from the back, revealing unfinished pine planks with a visible horizontal crack and surface wear, resting on turned ebonized bun feet.

Rectangular black lacquered panel with symmetrical silver inlaid arabesque and floral motifs, featuring four central oval cartouches with pierced filigree-style decoration and blue enamel or stone medallion centers, with corner ornaments.

Artist or Maker: Unidentified artists
Title: Cabinet (Papelera)
Place Made: Possibly Antwerp (cabinet) and Lima (silver applications and enamel)
Date Made: circa 1700
Medium: Ebonized wood, cast and chased silver, and enamel
Dimensions: Doors closed: 18 3/4 × 33 1/2 × 11 1/2 in. (47.63 × 85.09 × 29.21 cm); doors open: 18 3/4 × 55 × 11 1/2 in. (47.63 × 139.7 × 29.21 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the 2023 Collectors Committee
Accession Number: M.2023.51.1-.13
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: This exceptional luxury cabinet was manufactured in Europe (possibly in Antwerp) and ornamented in Peru by local expert silversmiths. Made of wood painted black to imitate highly coveted ebony, the cabinet is embellished with intricately cast and chased openwork silver applications and enhanced with vivid blue and green enamelwork. The central medallion reads in Spanish: “I was bejeweled at the behest of my master His Excellency Don Melchor Portocarrero Lasso de la Vega, Count of Monclova,” Peru’s viceroy from 1689 to 1705. The cabinet creates an overwhelming first impression, revealing the virtuosity with which it was embellished, its costly materials, and the role of the viceroy in its creation.

Cabinets took Europe by storm in the mid-sixteenth century and remained furniture makers’ most prestigious product throughout the 1600s. This was largely due to their ingenious decoration and their costly and rare materials. Ebony was an expensive tropical wood imported mostly from Southeast Asia and was highly sought after in Europe, while silver became a symbol of Spanish America’s proverbial riches. Cabinets with multiple drawers derived from the Spanish escritorio or papelera. This furnishing type, originally used to store papers, eventually evolved to hold all sorts of collectibles and valuable possessions. Traded as works of art, cabinets often featured in Spanish still-life paintings (see M.2023.58) alongside other precious items from across the globe.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Carlos Washington Aliseris (1898–1974), Montevideo, Uruguay, first half of the 20th century; by inheritance to his daughter Raquel Aliseris Bernadá, Montevideo, 1974; by inheritance to her son Ignacio Labaure Aliseris, Montevideo, 1986; Jaime Eguiguren - Art & Antiques, Buenos Aires, 2016; LACMA, 2023.
Selected Bibliography: Ilona Katzew, “New Acquisition: A Cabinet (Papelera) Enhanced in Peru,” Unframed, April 28, 2023, https://unframed.lacma.org/2023/04/28/new-acquisition-cabinet-papelera-enhanced-peru.
Selected Exhibition History: Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024

Related Exhibitions

Related Unframed

Unidentified artists
Cabinet (Papelera)circa 1700

On view:

Geffen Galleries, The Iberian World: From Spain to Spanish America

Artist or Maker: Unidentified artists
Title: Cabinet (Papelera)
Place Made: Possibly Antwerp (cabinet) and Lima (silver applications and enamel)
Date Made: circa 1700
Medium: Ebonized wood, cast and chased silver, and enamel
Dimensions: Doors closed: 18 3/4 × 33 1/2 × 11 1/2 in. (47.63 × 85.09 × 29.21 cm); doors open: 18 3/4 × 55 × 11 1/2 in. (47.63 × 139.7 × 29.21 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the 2023 Collectors Committee
Accession Number: M.2023.51.1-.13
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: This exceptional luxury cabinet was manufactured in Europe (possibly in Antwerp) and ornamented in Peru by local expert silversmiths. Made of wood painted black to imitate highly coveted ebony, the cabinet is embellished with intricately cast and chased openwork silver applications and enhanced with vivid blue and green enamelwork. The central medallion reads in Spanish: “I was bejeweled at the behest of my master His Excellency Don Melchor Portocarrero Lasso de la Vega, Count of Monclova,” Peru’s viceroy from 1689 to 1705. The cabinet creates an overwhelming first impression, revealing the virtuosity with which it was embellished, its costly materials, and the role of the viceroy in its creation.

Cabinets took Europe by storm in the mid-sixteenth century and remained furniture makers’ most prestigious product throughout the 1600s. This was largely due to their ingenious decoration and their costly and rare materials. Ebony was an expensive tropical wood imported mostly from Southeast Asia and was highly sought after in Europe, while silver became a symbol of Spanish America’s proverbial riches. Cabinets with multiple drawers derived from the Spanish escritorio or papelera. This furnishing type, originally used to store papers, eventually evolved to hold all sorts of collectibles and valuable possessions. Traded as works of art, cabinets often featured in Spanish still-life paintings (see M.2023.58) alongside other precious items from across the globe.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Carlos Washington Aliseris (1898–1974), Montevideo, Uruguay, first half of the 20th century; by inheritance to his daughter Raquel Aliseris Bernadá, Montevideo, 1974; by inheritance to her son Ignacio Labaure Aliseris, Montevideo, 1986; Jaime Eguiguren - Art & Antiques, Buenos Aires, 2016; LACMA, 2023.
Selected Bibliography: Ilona Katzew, “New Acquisition: A Cabinet (Papelera) Enhanced in Peru,” Unframed, April 28, 2023, https://unframed.lacma.org/2023/04/28/new-acquisition-cabinet-papelera-enhanced-peru.
Selected Exhibition History: Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024

Related Exhibitions

Related Unframed

New Acquisition: A Cabinet (Papelera) Enhanced in Peru

April 28, 2023
Ilona Katzew

LACMA Announces 10 New Acquisitions During the 37th Collectors Committee Weekend

April 24, 2023
Editors