An oak chest of drawers, circa 1690, with Chinoiserie paper drawer-linings
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1690
Materials
Oak, paper drawer-linings, brass handles and lock plates, deal drawer linings
Measurements
93 x 98.5 x 59.5 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Dyrham, Gloucestershire
NT 453175
Summary
An oak chest of drawers, English, circa 1690. With two short and three long graduated drawers, each lined with chinoiserie hand-printed paper depicting animals, figures, birds and buildings within landscapes. With panelled sides and raised on later bracket feet, the brass handles are not the original.
Full description
The chest has a contemporary paper lining to all of the drawers, this is most unusual to find such a complete example. English Heritage have a similar paper in the Architectural Studies Collection which is their earliest wall paper dating from circa 1690-1700. It was salvaged in the 1960s from a terraced house in Paradise Row, Lambeth, South London. It is believed that the Lambeth paper was made in the area close to St. Paul’s Churchyard, the hub of the 18th-century wallpaper manufacturing trade. The Lambeth wallpaper and the Dyrham chest paper show various stylistic influences at play both in design and method of production. The repeated designs depict Turkish figures and far-eastern pagoda-like buildings, exotic birds frequently used in Japanese designs of the 17th century and hunters within landscape settings. The pattern consists of approximately twelve discrete design elements, some of these being repeated on the same block. The pattern includes a border on its two ‘vertical’ edges and elements at upper and lower edges that allows a continuous vertical design when two or more sheets are joined together. The paper is hand made with mostly untrimmed deckle edges, block printed and with stenciled colours. Central creases remain from the original fold from the drying process when the sheets would be hung over a line. The paper is a ‘medium’ weight and no wire marks or watermarks are apparent. James Weedon (September 2018)
Provenance
From the Stourhead collection, given to the National Trust along with Stourhead House, its grounds, and the rest of the contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946. Currently on display at Dyrham Park.
