Dutch cabinetmaker. He is particularly associated with spectacular floral-marquetry cabinets. His Amsterdam workshops also produced such other furniture in the Baroque style as tables and guéridons (small, often circular centre table supported by one or more columns, or sculptural human, or mythological figures) en suite with the cabinets. The marquetry designs, derived from Dutch still-life paintings, achieved brilliant trompe l'oeil effects through the use of various coloured veneers. His work ranks among the most illustrious of the period; compared with that of his contemporary André Charles Boulle, however, van Mekeren's style is freer and less disciplined. The marquetry decoration, for example, often extends down the legs and over the cornices. The value of his estate indicates that commercially his business was highly successful. Nine cabinets can be attributed to him, the most impressive of which is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. //