拍品专文
The present table cabinet - or stipo - was described as 'Italian c. 1600', in the sale catalogue of the Castiglioni Collection (Von Falke, loc. cit.). Subsequent research has made it possible to be more precise about the piece's place of origin, which must have been Naples. The two most prominent makers of comparable pieces in ivory and ebony, were Giovanni Battista de Curtis (González-Palacios, loc. cit.) and Theodore de Voghel (Penny, loc. cit.), both of whom were active in Naples around 1600. Although the scenes from ancient history and mythology are extremely similar to those found on a number of their productions, the absence of a signature on the present example leaves open the question of who was responsible for it. It is not impossible that these pieces were in any case collaborative works, for whereas De Curtis is recorded as an engraver on ivory - 'intagliatore d'avoli' - (González-Palacios, op. cit., p. 240), de Voghel was a master gunsmith for the King of Spain, and signed a stipo in the Ashmolean Museum 'Bellicorum Tormentorum Magister', literally 'Master of the Torments of War' (Penny, op. cit., p. 150). What is clear, however, is that the plaques at the corners of the top of the present cabinet correspond to those on the stipo signed by De Voghel in the Ashmolean Museum (Penny, loc. cit.). It therefore seems reasonable to attribute the present piece to him.