Armoire
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1730 - circa 1770 (with some later additions and alterations)
Materials
Walnut, burr walnut, fruitwood, deal, oak, brass, paint, gilt
Measurements
194.6 x 212 x 77 cm
Place of origin
Southern Germany
Order this imageCollection
Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
NT 206584
Summary
A walnut and marquetry armoire, mid-18th century with later additions and alterations, South German or Austrian.Split into 10 parts. With canted corners and topped by a cavetto cornice with moulded edges. The cornice inlaid with strapwork, birds, flowers and a central Classical bust. And with a pair of doors with sunken fielded panels, inlaid with Mannerist foliate strapwork, cartouches and figures and with ebonized moulded beading. The interior lined with fabric and with a later brass hanging rail. One door fitted with a large lockplate of foliate and strapwork-pierced and engraved brass. Raised on a moulded base and with paw and ball-carved feet. The doors painted white to the interior and painted in gilt with Mannerist strapwork enclosing figures beneath drapery canopies. The doors and canted angles are inlaid with the figures of Charity, Faith, Justice and Hope.
Provenance
Date of acquisition not recorded, but probably acquired by George Bambridge (1892 - 1943) and Elsie Bambridge (1896 - 1976), who purchased a largely empty Wimpole in 1938. The hall and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1976 by Elsie Bambridge.