Ashburton Cabinet

Bureau cabinet known as the “Ashburton Cabinet”, Turin, c. 1770, body of walnut and poplar with a veneer of rosewood lozenges within a kingwood lattice dotted with minute rosettes with two-coloured petals (ivory and boxwood), applications of carved ivory, door with mirror, gilded bronze keyhole facings
and pommels, two secret drawers with a spring mechanism and blocking plates beside the main drawer of the desk (lined with cherry wood) This bureau cabinet by Pietro Piffetti (Turin, 1701–77) is by far the
most important piece of furniture in the Cerruti Collection. It marks a crucial stage in the stylistic development of the great Rococo cabinet maker, as though the author, no longer content
with demonstrating the virtuoso skill of which his art was capable, had decided to allow finesse to prevail over grandeur, the exquisite over the amazing.