Washstand
Liberty and Co.
Category
Furniture
Date
1894
Materials
Ash, tile, copper handles
Measurements
117.5 x 90.5 x 61 cm
Order this imageCollection
Standen House and Garden, West Sussex
NT 1213999
Summary
An ash washstand, supplied to Standen by Liberty in 1894. Part of a three piece bedroom set, the rectangular overhanging top with framed splashback and narrow shelf atop, both inset with yellow/green tiles, above a pair of doors with copper handles, standing on ring-turned legs, with ceramic disc inside the cupboard 'LIBERTY & Co. LONDON. ' The suite was ordered for Miss Helen Beale and comprises this washstand, a wardrobe (NT 1216794) and a dressing table (NT 1216795).
Full description
After ten years service working at Farmer & Rogers Oriental Warehouse in Regent Street which specialised in Kashmir shawls and oriental goods, Arthur Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917) opened his own store in 1875 with a £2000 loan from his future father-in-law. Liberty's collection of ornaments, textiles and objets d'art from the Middle East and Asia proved irresistible to a society intoxicated at the time by Japan and the East. In 1880, a furniture department opened under the direction of Leonard. F. Wyburd and an Anglo-Oriental hybrid style for furniture and objects developed, soon embracing designers from the Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau movements and introducing the now famous range of Art Nouveau Tudric and Cymric pewter.
Marks and inscriptions
Inside door: LIBERTY & Co. LONDON.
Makers and roles
Liberty and Co., maker