Cabinet stand
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1675
Materials
Carved and gilded pine
Measurements
146 x 102 x 55 cm
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Ham House, Surrey
NT 1140084.2
Summary
A giltwood stand, English, circa 1675. Made to support a Japanese lacquer cabinet dated circa 1650, this stand is of carved and gilded pine. It is of a very unusual design with four legs carved as elephant trunks, each surmounted by a winged cherub's bust, the large front rail centred by a mask with an open-mouth within a cartouche above a foliage swag. A lacquer cabinet on a giltwood stand appears in the Gallery by 1679, first described as an "Indian" cabinet, and later as "fine Japan" (1683). According to George Nix's surviving bills, circa 1730 the stand was regilded and the top lacquer panel of the cabinet was removed and replaced in order to create a lacquer and japanned table (NT 1139748). He substituted the top panel of the cabinet with japanned deal.
Provenance
Ham House's Inventories, in the Gallery : in 1679: "Indian Cabinet wt a gilt frame carved"; in 1683: "One fine fapan Cabinet wth. a Carved guilt frame". George Nix's bill dated 12 September 1730 : " For making a Table of the Top of the Cabinet, and a neat Japann'd frame for the table [£] 2-15-0". 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.283