Studiolo

The studiolo cabinet is a new type of furniture used for writing and for the keeping of documents, letters and writing tools. It was produced in the 16th and 17th century. This is the type of the two-part cabinet (a due corpi): the upper part behind the fold-down top that was used for writing hid little drawers and doors, while the lower part was conceived as a cupboard with two-winged doors. The horizontal and vertical grid is emphasised with the mouldings and corner pilasters with human figures carved in full sculpture, a bambocci, as it was called. Such highly identifiable opulent decoration with a powerful aesthetic effect was characteristic of Liguria and its cultural and artistic centre, Genoa, but was also produced in Tuscany. In this specimen in the upper part of the cabinet superposed pairs of putti in contrapposto bear books, and in the lower part fruit, while a rhythmical composure is achieved with the sequencing of carved heads below the cornice. The body of the piece reposes on lion claw feet.
The studiolo was donated to the Museum by Margareta Balogh née Drašković in 1949. It was owned by the counts of Drašković in Dugo Selo or in Božjakovina, which point to the high lifestyle of the Croatian nobility.