Cabinet

Narrator 

This cabinet is more than just a piece of furniture. It tells a story about war, about the struggle for immeasurable riches, and about how Europe tries to conquer the world in the 17th century. 

Knut Astrup Bull, art historian at the National Museum says: 

Knut Astrup Bull  

During the 17th century, the world of trade becomes systematized. So, you get a much more frequent and smoother shipping between these different continents. They then brought these luxury goods back, everything from sugar, wood, and other types of exotic things. 

Narrator 

But trade also created conflict. Because, who would get to control all the wealth that was out there? This was part of the background for the Thirty Years' War that ravaged Europe in the first half of the 17th century. 

Knut Astrup Bull 

…and I think that this cupboard could possibly have a relation to the Thirty Years' War as far as the owner is concerned. 

Narrator 

The carvings on the cupboard doors give us a small hint as to who the owner of this cupboard might have been. Here we see, among other things, the god of war Mars, and workers building what is presumably a defensive wall around a city. 

Knut Astrup Bull  

So, we must be able to assume, if this interpretation of the pictures is correct, that it was a higher French officer who owned this cabinet. Perhaps even given as a gift for feats on the battlefield. 

Narrator 

This cabinet is truly a wonderfully valuable gift… 

Merle Strätling 

What is so special about this cabinet is that all visible surfaces are completely covered with expensive ebony veneer. Both inside and outside. 

Narrator 

Conservator Merle Strätling is working together with Knut to uncover the stories of this cabinet. 

Merle Strätling 

Ebony is, after all, a luxury item - it has something to do with the nice deep black colour, which stands out from the vast majority of European wood species. But also, the exotic origin. 

Narrator 

Ebony does not grow in Europe. So, the wood that covers this cabinet traveled a long way, perhaps all the way from Indonesia, on a sailing ship 400 years ago. And it has traveled along precisely one of the trade routes that the European powers fought over during the Thirty Years' War. 

Merle Strätling 

And, it was a long, arduous and quite dangerous journey, where many ships were lost and never returned.