Viennese Mahogany Cabinet

Mag­nif­i­cent and Rarely High-Qual­i­ty Four Sea­sons Cab­i­net with Glass Upper Sec­tion, in mahogany and pyra­mid mahogany, with an excep­tion­al­ly detailed and lux­u­ri­ous design. The base and the back pan­el of the low­er sec­tion are beau­ti­ful­ly veneered with mul­ti­ple mir­rored pyra­mid mahogany patterns.

The four columns at the front, sup­port­ing the upper struc­ture and topped with a small cor­nice, are ful­ly sculpt­ed fig­ures rep­re­sent­ing the four sea­sons. These fig­ures are of par­tic­u­lar­ly high qual­i­ty, del­i­cate­ly carved with flow­ing drap­ery and fine­ly detailed facial fea­tures. The hair and sea­son­al attrib­ut­es of the fig­ures are craft­ed with excep­tion­al pre­ci­sion.

The upper sec­tion, sup­port­ed by these four fig­ures, is rich­ly adorned with flo­ral and orna­men­tal carv­ings. The open cen­tral area fea­tures a faceted mir­ror framed with intri­cate carv­ings and two fixed shelves.
The two vit­rines flank­ing the cen­tral sec­tion are glazed at the front and sides, allow­ing light to flow beau­ti­ful­ly into the inte­ri­or. Each vit­rine con­tains two height-adjustable shelves, with the front edges intri­cate­ly carved in a wave pat­tern. The glass doors are bor­dered by two ful­ly sculpt­ed columns on each side, intri­cate­ly carved with hun­dreds of leaves. The glass pan­els them­selves are dec­o­rat­ed with ele­gant, curved wood­en orna­ments.

The cor­nice is adorned with a con­tin­u­ous band of flo­ral and leaf motifs. Above this band, numer­ous ful­ly carved acorns encir­cle the piece, adding to its elab­o­rate design.

The present salon fur­ni­ture is cer­tain­ly remark­able in its crafts­man­ship and qual­i­ty.

The Sea­sons fig­ures are exact repli­cas of the four fig­ures from the Jew­el Cab­i­net, com­mis­sioned by Marie Antoinette in 1787 from Fer­di­nand Schw­erd­feger for her grand apart­ment.

Unlike the Jew­el Cab­i­net, where the fig­ures are made of gild­ed bronze and serve as dec­o­ra­tive ele­ments, the fig­ures in this Sea­sons Cab­i­net are craft­ed in mahogany and func­tion as sup­port­ing columns for the upper sec­tion.
This excep­tion­al piece of fur­ni­ture is like­ly the work of Bern­hard Lud­wig, one of the most promi­nent Vien­nese cab­i­net­mak­ers of his era. The design and crafts­man­ship of this cab­i­net reflect the refined taste of late 19^th-cen­tu­ry Vien­na and, in par­tic­u­lar, the archi­tec­tur­al style of the Ringstraße era.

The use of mahogany and pyra­mid mahogany sug­gests the dis­tin­guished sta­tus of its orig­i­nal com­mis­sion­er. This com­bi­na­tion of mate­ri­als is rem­i­nis­cent of the avant-garde designs of Adolf Loos, such as the Loos House in Michael­er­platz, Vien­na, and the Vil­la Müller in Prague.

Theophil Hansen, a renowned Ringstraße archi­tect, may have also influ­enced the design of this cab­i­net. His works, such as the Palais Ephrus­si with its ter­ra­cot­ta cary­atids and the Neo-Renais­sance Palais Tode­sco, con­struct­ed with Lud­wig Förster, serve as com­pa­ra­ble exam­ples of sim­i­lar styl­is­tic ele­ments.

This excep­tion­al cab­i­net, craft­ed with extra­or­di­nary atten­tion to detail and skill, per­fect­ly cap­tures the spir­it of Vien­na around 1900. Mas­ter­pieces like this, cre­at­ed with such care and exper­tise, are trea­sures that will con­tin­ue to delight many gen­er­a­tions to come.

Please see a ref­er­ence image of Marie-Antoinet­te’s icon­ic bed­room below. Watch a video HERE.