Cabinet on stand
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1650 - circa 1675
Materials
Pine veneered with ebony and ebonised wood, tortoiseshell, ivory and satiné, mounted with marble, pietra paesina, gilt bronze and brass
Measurements
84.3 x 120.5 x 45.5 cm
Order this imageCollection
Ham House, Surrey
NT 1140050.1
Summary
A cabinet, probably made in Antwerp, circa 1650-75, in ebony, red tortoiseshell and marble, on a later stand. The cabinet has two doors, each with an octagonal panel of tortoiseshell set within a square of rippled mouldings. Horizontal rectangular stripes of tortoiseshell are inlaid into the front panel of the two drawers at the top and bottom friezes of the cabinet. The sides have raised and framed panels in ebonised wood. The pair of doors open to a rare interior fitted with a central door veneered with a chequer work ground of ivory and tortoiseshell, mounted with marble columns and gilt bronze mounts forming a Baroque architecture incorporating small gilt bronze figures and pietra paesina cartouches, flanked by seven drawers to each side veneered with parquetry of tortoiseshell and ivory, mounted with pietra paesina plaques. The central door veneered with parquetry to the reverse, revealing a "theatre" interior with mirrored plates and giltwood columns, flanked by a row of three tiny drawers, on a later stand with two frieze drawers.
Provenance
In the Ham House inventory of 1683 " One Cabinet of Ebony inlaid wth tortois-shell" is listed in the Volury room. Peter Thornton suggested that it could be the "Cabinet of Black ebony" listed in the Duchess's bedchamber in the Ham House inventory of 1679, and possibly in the Volury room circa 1654. 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
Thornton and Tomlin 1980 Peter Thornton, and Maurice Tomlin. “The Furnishing and Decoration of Ham House.” Furniture History, The Journal of The Furniture History Society Vol.XVI, 1980, fig.24