Small italian cabinet called “stipo”

This Italian Renaissance Cabinet called Stipo evokes architecture forms. The earliest Stipo a bambocci appeared around or shortly after 1560 in Genova (Region of Ligura). All the sides are richly decorated with figures, busts, masks and terms. The characteristic features of the Stipo a Bambocci are the carved small, chubby Bambocci – figures.

This walnut stipo opens with eight drawers and surrounds a leaf revealing two small drawers. The pull buttons are in the form of busts.

Under a molded cornice with a frieze of dentils, the entablature has a coat of arms in the center. Four bambocci are regularly arranged, striking the pose of Atlanteans. This theme runs throughout the stipo with some variations, however.

On the sides the same theme is repeated : figures dressed in the antique or in period clothes carrying a tool, rest on the tablets supported by grotesques.

Beautifully crafted, this small piece of furniture is a fine example of the Mannerist movement. The decor here is sumptuous with its iconography and the multitude of small figures called "bambocci".

They are treated in relief and can be compared to bronzes from the same period.

In addition to its decor, this piece of furniture has a harmony of proportions that corresponds to the perfect mastery of volume and space.