c. 1620, with replaced modern pediment

Cabinet (Meuble à deux corps)

The French name for this cabinet means “a piece of furniture with two bodies”—that is, the piece is composed of separate cupboards with locking doors that are set one above the other. The elaborate carvings on the doors are based on designs from printed woodcuts, engravings, and etchings that must have been available to the cabinetmaker’s workshop. The design and ornament of the cabinet relate to the mid-1500s decoration of the palace of Fontainebleau, near Paris, which remained influential to later generations of artists.