Cabinet stand
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1670
Materials
Carved, gilded and bronzed wood
Measurements
47 x 77 x 47 cm
Place of origin
Holland or England
Order this imageCollection
Ham House, Surrey
NT 1139897.2
Summary
A carved and gilded stand [NT 1139897.2], European, circa 1670, supporting a Nagasaki lacquer cabinet, Japan, circa 1670 [NT 1139897.1]. The stand one of a pair; the other [NT 1139896.2] supports another slightly different Japanese cabinet of the same date [NT 1139896.1]. The stand with solid ebonized top and cavetto under-moulding, with an applied giltwood apron of a pair of foliated scrolls. The legs modeled as 'boyes', their waists hung with giltwood drapes, their legs terminating in a ball and claw foot. The feet joined by flat rectangular-section concave stretchers.
Full description
This stand and its pair are first listed in the Green Closet in an inventory taken at Ham House in 1679, where they are called 'frames'. They were commissioned to support two similar Nagasaki lacquer cabinets of about 1670, which first appear in the Green Closet in an inventory of 1677. The stands were made to match a side table [NT 1139895] in the Green Closet, but are of poorer quality, as are a set of stools of very similar design [NT 1139898]. The stands are probably either English or Dutch.The cabinet this stand supports was probably purchased by Elizabeth Murray, 2nd Countess of Dysart (1626 - 1698), circa 1670, and is believed to have been at Ham House since at least 1677, when an inventory lists 'two Japan Cabinetts' in the Green Closet. The cabinets on stands have always been placed on either side of the chimney piece, facing the long stools, as can also be seen in H.W. Brewer 's watercolour of the Green Closet circa 1886 (Private collection).(Entry adapted by Megan Wheeler, August 2018)
Provenance
Ham House's inventory of 1679 lists 'Two Japan Cabinets & frames'. Thence by descent, and acquired in 1948 by HM Government when Sir Lyonel, 4th Bt (1854 – 1952) and Sir Cecil Tollemache, 5th Bt (1886 – 1969) presented Ham House to the National Trust, and entrusted to the care of the Victoria & Albert Museum, until 1990, when returned to the care of the National Trust, and to which ownership was transferred in 2002.
References
Rowell 2013: Christopher Rowell (ed.), Ham House, 400 Years of Collecting and Patronage, Yale University Press, New Haven & London 2013, p.28
