Jan Adolf Hillebrand Jr. had been trained as a furniture maker by his father, but the conditions of the trade had changed drastically by the time he exercised his occupation at the start of the nineteenth century. The guilds had been abolished in 1818, so there were no longer strict regulations in place to protect local craftsmen. The best way for an up-and-coming furniture maker to demonstrate his artisanship was to take part in the national industry expositions. This silver cabinet is probably the furniture piece that was exhibited in 1844 at the Friesian art and industry exposition, held in Leeuwarden, where it was described as ‘A Gothic, Renaissance-style decorated silver cabinet of mahogany... decorated with cylindrical columns and inlaid with ivory marquetry. Gothic spires adorn the antique top, the doors of the upper cabinet have white polished glass with antique Gothic figures, and the inside is fully lined with scarlet.’ Everything about the cabinet suggests that it served as a showpiece. The materials are costly, and the design is self-consciously historical. Such neostyles, as they were sometimes referred to, were very popular throughout Europe roughly between 1835 and 1895.

It was not unusual for historical styles to serve as a source of inspiration, but in the nineteenth century this went hand in hand with a nostalgic longing for the past. In order to evoke the atmosphere of ‘the olden days’, styles were sometimes combined at will. Thus, for this cabinet the young Hillebrand fused together Gothic and Renaissance ornamentation. Hillebrand was proud of his work. In around 1840 he had an almost full-figure portrait made of himself, standing by a table in a posh interior, leaning on a large book with protruding sheets of paper. These are probably design drawings or prints, like the ones lying on the table next to the silver ink set and a drawing pen. Behind him we see the silver cabinet that is now in the possession of the Centraal Museum. Here stands a self-assured entrepreneur who sees himself more as an artist than as an artisan.

There was a comparable cabinet at the same exposition but decorated even more lavishly, and it was bought by King William II. This furniture piece is now part of the Rijksmuseum collection, on loan. The cabinet belonging to the Centraal Museum cost 650 guilders and was probably purchased by the forebears of Mr Ribbius Peletier, who gifted it to the museum in 1941.