A late 16th Century Augsburg marquetry table cabinet, with two cupboard doors enclosing fourteen various sized drawers framing two architectural cupboard doors, profusely inlaid throughout with densely scrolling foliage, monkeys, parrots, snails, squirrels, rabbits and grotesque masks, 92.75cm/Note: From the mid-sixteenth century, cabinet makers in the south German city of Augsburg specialised in table cabinets intended for the storage of small, precious objects such as exotic shells, medals and jewellery. These luxury cabinets were often profusely decorated with colourful marquetry depicting fantastical ruins, strapwork, a variety of animals, birds and insects and a range of ornamental motifs drawn from contemporary German prints/Literature: Riccardi-Cubitt, 'The Art of the Cabinet', 1992, plates 14 and 15