A particularly expressive, elegant corner cabinet with a sober silhouette and lavish inlaid ornamentation. The quarter-circle front of the cabinet is decorated with parquetry in a fine net pattern of cross-connnected flowers within cartouches against a dark background. This background forms the basis of the decorative scheme, giving the whole a sleek, well-balanced feel. This decor is used on the side stiles, the middle stile, and the pediment; it is interrupted by the pairs of upper and lower doors, which are decorated with a lighter-tinted inlaid pattern of stacked cubes that geometrically faces diagonally outwards. These patterned fields are placed within a frame with Greek meanders rendered in bois teinté at the corners. Within the cube fields are inlaid medallions of a remarkably fine quality, presenting a green-tinted undulating border with flowers surrounding, on the upper doors, a casually arranged selection of musical instruments, and on the lower doors an urn holding a bouquet of wildflowers. The cabinet is crowned with a sleek, concave cornice, and stands upon three straight feet at the front that visually extend the middle and side styles and thus contribute to the strong, sleek appearance of the cabinet as a whole.
Based on the combination of this expressive and daring decor and the bold, sleek silhouette, we can confidently attribute this cabinet to Matthijs Horrix.
Matthijs Horrix
Mathijs Horrix most likely travelled to The Hague around 1761, where he joined the cabinetmakers’ guild in May of 1764. He had registered as a citizen of The Hague in January of 1764, and married Elisabeth de la Fosse, a native of The Hague, in that same year. The couple’s home was on Spuistraat, as was Horrix’s workshop, which developed into a large and versatile workshop from 1770 onwards. In 1771, Horrix joined the Pietersstoel guild in 1771, where he not only held the position of Master Cabinetmaker, but also of “Spaanse stoelenmakers Baas”. Horrix’s employee Willem Corbaz was also registered in the guild as an upholsterer, which made it possible to deliver upholstered chair as well.
From then on, Horrix could effectively build all furniture needed to furnish a house, something that members of the Stadtholder’s Court and other courts eagerly took advantage of, especially because Horrix employed “the latest fashions from Paris”. This was made clear in his business’s name: In de Commode van Paris, or “In the Parisian Commode”.
Matthijs Horrix died in 1809, and was succeeded by his cousin, Pieter Paulus Horrix (1767-1840), who had worked in his uncle’s workshop since 1794.
Literature:
R.J. Baarsen, “ ‘In de commode van Parijs tot Den Haag’, Matthijs Horrix (1735-1809), een meubelmaker in Den Haag in de tweede helft van de achttiende eeuw”, in Oud Holland 107, nr. 1, 1993, pp. 161-256.
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