A Portuguese Baroque Rosewood and Stained Walnut Gilt-Brass-Mounted Cabinet on Stand 17th Century

in two parts, the upper section with four banks of four drawers, each with a carved undulating design and mounted with pierced lozenge shaped escutcheons, the sides carved and mounted to match the drawers; the lower section with a pierced scrolling apron, raised on barley-twist turned legs, joined by turned stretchers.

The contador, or cabinet on stand, exemplifies Portuguese furniture designs from the 17th Century and later.  The carved undulating pattern, pierced gilt-lacquer brass fixtures, pierced apron and elaborately turned legs are all characteristic elements of this form. A comparable example is illustrated in H. Hayward, World Furniture, Middlesex, 1965, p. 105 fig. 365.