Treasure: the embroidered cabinet

In the almost eight years that I have started collecting and making miniatures, I have acquired some beautiful miniatures made by little known or internationaly renowned miniaturists. And I have made some pretty decent ones myself, if I may say so.

But there is always óne that surpasses all of the rest in a collection! And for me it is the miniature in the picture above. This year, during my absence from blog-land I have acquired a truly unique miniature. There is only one of it in 1:1 and there is only one of it in 1:12. 

The original is a 17th century cabinet made of ebony. The panels on the outside are covered with embroidered silk panels. The original is part of the collection of the Amsterdam museum. I do not know if it is on display in the museum right now, but it was so before the extensive renovations of the museum several years ago. 

I last visited the museum 12 years ago.

I remember being amazed by the unusual choice of material for a cabinet. It shows how money was no objection to the trading elite of Amsterdam back then. But more to the point is that this delicate work has survived centuries! As far as the experts of this museum know, this is the only cabinet of this type in existence. There are several smaller boxes covered in embroidery and stump work that we know of, and some of these fine (Elisabethan) examples have been recreated by some gifted miniaturists as well!

But, of this particular cabinet there is only one in existence in both scales. And I am the very, very, very lucky owner since this early summer.

In the top picture the embroidered panels may look like a print at first glance. I would not even blame you for thinking that. But, nothing is further from te truth, dear reader! These panels are stitched in micro embroidery!

The museum aided Annelies de Kort in her attempt. They gave her full acces and allowed her to measure each part of this cabinet and photograph it from all sides. Then she had to make the charts according to these photo's and choose the colours to use. After all that was done it was time to stitch...

She  embroidered each piece on silk gauze with 30 stitches per cm (+/- 90 per inch). Annelies spent over 700 hours (!!!) embroidering on this; over a million stitches were needed to complete these panels. And when the panels were finished, a tricky step remained. To stay true to the original she has not glued the panels onto the sides and the doors. Oh no. She nailed them on with metal nails, true to the original!

Annelies told me that she found it extremely difficult to hammer the first nail through her embroidery work. Each nail would damage that which had taken so many hours to create in detail. But, it was the same way the original panels are attached to the cabinet. With each nail it became easier to do. And apart from the nail holes no damage was done. No repairwork needed. 

I find that very brave of Annelies to do! And for me it is a detail that enhances my appreciation of this piece. I am not sure if I would have the guts needed......

After finishing it, she used this cabinet as a show piece in the miniature shows here and in America that she attended as a seller. She has had several generous offers over the years but declined them all. It was not for sale. Until may 2024 that is! So when I heard that she was going to sell her 17th century cabinet, you understand that I had to try to acquire it for Huis ter Swinnendael. And I have succeeded! I am so proud to be the very lucky owner of this unique miniature! I really am very happy with this rare miniature treasure.

At this moment it rests safely in a box, waiting for a room to house it. It deserves pride of place in an important room. It will be the marbled bedroom (a.k.a Marot bedroom) of Huis ter Swinnendael. You can see the mock up of the first design in the picture above. This will be Lady Zonneschut's bedroom and will  adjoin the dressing room where the cabinet is photogrraphed in Now.  I have started on the little side cabinets around the parade bed for this room and will show you the progress of these in my next post. 

Huibrecht