This piece embodies the idea that “more is more.” Designed to convey their owners’ wealth and taste, such cabinets were used to display equally sumptuous works of art, such as elaborate clocks or vases. All of New York’s leading cabinetmakers made similar pieces, which were called “French cabinets,” as they were based (loosely) on French courtly styles of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. This cabinet integrates--among other elements--classically inspired columns, Italian Renaissance-style marquetry panels and console brackets, and a French porcelain plaque with a French-inspired metal surround.

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