Cabinet Archives • Ébénisterie Mathieu Vath

Augsburg Cabinet, 17th century

September 12, 2025September 12, 2025 Mathieu VathCabinet, Marquetry, Veneering - Marquetry, polite, furniture restoration, 17th century

Restoration of a small table cabinet (Height: 14.3 cm – Width: 17.3 cm – Depth: 13 cm), likely a traveling model, made of solid wood with intarsia on all sides, opening with a drop-front concealing eight drawers (the bottom one simulating two drawers). Its composition is particularly rich, incorporating eight different wood species. The frame, made of fir and cherry for the visible parts, is inlaid with large central panels of sycamore maple. These are framed by bands of plum wood, themselves bordered by a double band […]

English Cabinet

May 23, 2025September 12, 2025 Mathieu VathCabinet, Vacuum bonding, Marquetry, walnut, Veneering - Marquetry, furniture restoration, 17th century, 18th century

Restoration of a late 17th/early 18th-century English cabinet, veneered in walnut and maple, featuring the distinctive free-flowing arabesque marquetry known as seaweed marquetry because it evokes the seaweed found on the seabed. English "seaweed" marquetry is traditionally associated with Dutch and Flemish cabinetmakers active in the second half of the 17th century, and particularly with Gerrit Jensen. Indeed, when Prince William III of Orange ascended the throne of England in 1689, he was accompanied by his cabinetmakers. Subsequently, religious persecutions on the […]

Small Antwerp cabinet in ebony and tortoiseshell

January 31, 2025January 31, 2025 Mathieu VathCabinet, ebony, Louis XIII, Veneering - Marquetry, furniture restoration

Restoration of a cabinet opening with nine drawers arranged in five rows (six small drawers in the top row, one small central drawer, and two wide drawers in the lower section, each simulating two drawers) with turned ivory knobs. It is set into a base, itself opening with a wide drawer in the frieze, with four faceted legs connected by a flat, frame-like stretcher and ending in ball feet. This octagonal base allows us to date this cabinet to around 1660, at the very end of the Louis XIII period or the very beginning […]

Cabinet from the late 17th century

April 23, 2020May 31, 2021 Mathieu VathCabinet, walnut, Rio Rosewood, Veneering - Marquetry, furniture restoration

Don't be fooled by the Directoire-style keyhole escutcheons on this cabinet, as it dates from the late 17th or early 18th century. The keyhole escutcheons are clearly not original. In fact, very few elements remain original to this piece of furniture apart from the drawers, the frame, and the base. The veneer on the front, sides, and top has been altered. It's quite clear that the locks have been changed and the escutcheons filled in. This piece is entirely made of […]

Louis XIII Cabinet

September 4, 2019May 31, 2021 Mathieu Vathviolet wood, Solid Wood, Cabinet, Vacuum bonding, Louis XIII, Veneering - Marquetry, restoration, furniture restoration

A look back at a fascinating restoration project (at least for me). So fascinating, in fact, that I forgot to take photos at the beginning! This cabinet dates from the 17th century and features two drawers in the cornice and two doors in the upper section. The base consists of two drawers in the frieze supported by eight turned feet and a top resting on ball feet. Inside are twelve drawers and two doors concealing an interior theater, as well as eleven more drawers. The feet, along with […]