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Document Details :

Title: De vlinderkast uit 1827 van prins Alexander der Nederlanden
Subtitle: Een vroeg neogotisch meubel in het België onder koning Willem I
Author(s): REM, Paul
Journal: Tijdschrift voor Interieurgeschiedenis en Design
Volume: 37    Date: 2010-2011   
Pages: 53-60
DOI: 10.2143/GBI.37.0.3017263

Abstract :
A cabinet discovered in 2004 in the attic of Soestdijk Palace has been identified as the butterfly cabinet of Prince Alexander (1818-1848), second son of the Prince and Princess of Orange. He had received the cabinet on 2 August 1828 as a gift for his tenth birthday from his mother (Princess Anna Paulovna) to house his collection of preserved butterflies. Anna Paulovna commissioned the cabinet in Brussels where the House of Orange held court that year.
Although no invoice has survived, subsequent correspondence revealed that the butterfly cabinet was ordered from Charles Bonaventure Demarée (1776-1849), tapissier-ébéniste in Brussels. The cabinet can be regarded as a typical product of the early Neo-Gothic style, or style troubadour, which was well established in Belgium and which was used for furniture and all kinds of interior objects, albeit produced completely with modern techniques. This makes the cabinet a fine example from the under-researched period of furniture making during the Dutch Administration.

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