Erddig's 'Black Japan Cabinate' - circa 1720
possibly John Belchier (1699 - 1753)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1720
Materials
Japanned wood, oak and deal to carcase, paint, gilding, brass, iron locks, velvet, later baize
Measurements
217 x 105 x 62 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Erddig, Wrexham
NT 1147114
Summary
A desk-and-bookcase, or bureau bookcase, black-japanned, English, circa 1720, possibly by John Belchier (fl. 1717-1753). The doors modified: originally fitted to the exterior with mirrored glass, they are now lined with the panels which were originally on their inside. Topped by a double-arched cornice, and a pair of hinged doors. The panels to the exterior japanned with a pair of Chinoiserie figures holding pennants, the interior now lined with baize. Fitted with a central pair of cupboard doors, between their own gilded cornice with a finial at each end, a short drawer below. This small central cupboard above and beneath a run of five pigeonholes, each with black-japanned ogee-arched frieze, and flanked by a pair of upright pigeonholes fitted with ogee-fronted dividers, for papers or larger folios. All painted red, like the underside of the double-arched top. This arrangement surrounded by two banks of five short drawers, all with japanned fronts, a pair of shaped short drawers below. The doors with brass fittings and locks. A small pair of candle-slides fitted to the upper cabinet beneath the doors. The bureau with hinged slope fitted with a moulded rest and lined to its interior with original green cloth (possibly velvet), and with iron lock. And fitted with an arrangement of eight pigeonholes and four short drawers, all around a central arched small cupboard door. All above two short and two graduated long drawers, fitted with brass handles and escutcheons and iron locks. Raised on bracket feet. With applied mouldings at waist and base. The drawers lined with oak; the carcase of oak and softwood. The drawers surrounded by an applied double bead. Decorated all over with Chinoiserie motives, landscapes and figures.
Full description
This remarkable bureau bookcase, or desk-and-bookcase, has been at Erddig since at least 1726, and was probably made around 1720. It is one of four known pieces of japanned furniture stamped with the initials 'RF'. Bowett points out that since this stamp sits beneath a black wash, it was probably the mark of the joiner or cabinet-maker who made the carcase, and not the japanner who decorated it. The craftsman with the initials 'RF' has not yet been identified. Although the bookcase has been modified - the doors would once have been lined with mirror plates, and the panels which now line the doors on the outside would once have been fitted to them on the inside - it is comparable with the magnificent scarlet-japanned bookcase which is also at Erddig (NT 1147081), which is also stamped 'RF'. Two other japanned desk-and-bookcases - not in National Trust collections - are also known to carry the same stamp. Several examples are known which carry the trade label of John Belchier (fl. 1717-1753) and, whilst the examples at Erddig do not, they seem so closely related that they have always been tentatively attributed to him. The fact that Belchier also supplied mirrors and other pieces of furniture to John Meller (d. 1733) of Erddig, makes this attribution more compelling. It should be noted, however, that neither of Erdigg's japanned desk-and-bookcases appear on Belchier's surviving bills. Described in the inventory of 1726 as the 'Black Japan Cabinate' listed in 'ye Worked Room opposite to the Breakfast Room', it was complimented by walnut furniture, and 'worked' textiles of green Satin. (Megan Wheeler, February 2019)
Provenance
Listed in an inventory taken at Erddig in 'ye Worked Room opposite to the Breakfast Room'. Thence by descent, and given by Phillip Yorke III (1905-1978) along with the estate, house and contents to the National Trust in 1973.
Marks and inscriptions
Leading edge of top of desk/bureau carcase: RF
Makers and roles
possibly John Belchier (1699 - 1753), cabinetmaker
References
Bowett 2009, Early Georgian Furniture 1715 - 1740 (2009), pp. 23 & 60 Drury, 1978: Martin Drury. “Early eighteenth-century furniture at Erddig.” Apollo 108 July (1978): pp.46-55., p. 52