Bureau cabinet
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1740
Materials
Stinkwood, rosewood drawer linings, brass handles
Measurements
219 x 102 x 57 cm
Place of origin
South Africa
Order this imageCollection
Owletts, Kent
NT 1410943
Summary
A stinkwood architectural bureau cabinet, South African, circa 1740. The upper section with moulded arched cornice and a pair of doors flanked by fluted pilasters with leaf-carved capitals, the interior with shelves, three small and one long drawer, the lower section of 'arc-en-arbelette' outline and with sloping lid enclosing a fitted interior of drawers and pigeonholes around a central cupboard door between pillars, all above a lidded well, with one long, two short and two long drawers below, the drawers lined in rosewood and all with original pierced brass handles, the sides bearing large brass carrying handles. 'Arc-en-arbelette' is the name given to the symmetrical undulating shape of the drawer fronts; the word is derived from the French for crossbow.
Provenance
Shown in a photograph at Stonehouse in 1905, the Johannesburg home of Sir Herbert Baker.