Herman Doomer was a successful cabinetmaker who worked with the imported ebony fashionable in seventeenthcentury Amsterdam. Portrait of Herman Doomer (1595–1650) by Rembrandt,1640 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Doomer made the cabinet pictured right, which Gregory Gregory bought on his European travels. In the early 17th century Amsterdam cabinetmakers developed new skills in ebony joinery. They produced furniture veneered in precious exotic woods such as ebony, entirely covering a heartwood carcass. Doomer was Amsterdam’s most famous ebony cabinetmaker, and this cupboard is one of his masterpieces. It is made of oak overlain with ebony and rosewood, inlain with mother of pearl ivory on the doors and columns. A ram’s head decorates the central drawer. Provenance • Acquired by Gregory Gregory • Sir Glynne Welby of Denton inherited in 1854 • Sir William Welby by descent
Oak and ebony cabinet by Herman Doomer Dated c. 1635 - 1645. Dimensions 220.5 cm × 206.0 cm × 83.5 cm. Rijkmuseum, Amsterdam object number BK-1975-81
The 1876 Inventory lists the cabinet as: “From Great Drawing Room” “A carved Ebony Cabinet ornamented with Mother O’ Pearl inlaid 4 spiral Columns 6ft 9 wide in Gallery” p. 20 item no. 261/00,000
Cause: D'Eyncourt v Gregory (i) Inventory of articles (heirlooms, including library and works of art) at Harlaxton New Manor House, delivered up by defendant John Sherwin Gregory in pursuance of orders 2 July 1864, 9 Aug. 1866 and 7 Dec. 1866. Deposited (i) 11 Dec. 1868 and (ii) by plaintiff [sic] Sir William Earles Welby-Gregory, bart., 28 June 1876. National Archives, London J 90/1217 (copy in Harlaxton Manor Archives).
In Frank Dicksee’s painting, The House Builders (1880) we see Sir W.E. and The Hon. Lady Welby-Gregory planning their new house, Denton Manor, which they are having built to house the vast quantity of inherited Gregory Heirlooms. The ebony cabinet can be seen in the background. • Sold in 1938 when Denton Hall was demolished. Denton Manor Contents Sale Nov/Dec 1938 Lot 95.
Description and photograph of Lot 95 from Denton Manor Contents Sale Catalogue, 1838. Note the decorative overmantle which was subsequently removed.
• Purchased by Amsterdam antique dealer, Etienne Delaunoy. • In 1939 it was sold to Dutch collector, L.J.L. Wittop Koning. • The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam purchased the cabinet in 1975, where it is on display in room 2.8.
The cabinet can be seen at the far end of the “Tapestry Gallery” (Long Gallery) at Harlaxton Manor in this photograph dated 1855-60.
Reference Baarsen, Reinier (1996) Herman Doomer, Ebony Worker in Amsterdam. The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 138, No. 1124 (Nov.), pp. 739-749.
Linda Dawes, March 2019