Ascham cabinet
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1800 - circa 1830
Materials
Painted deal, parcel gilding, metal
Measurements
201 x 42 x 37 cm
Place of origin
Great Britain
Order this imageCollection
Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
NT 206951
Summary
A painted deal 'Ascham' cabinet, English early 19th century. Of slender form, topped by a tall cupboard behind a paneled door painted with the arms of the Yorke Earls of Hardwicke, argent, a saltire azure, charged with a bezant beneath their crest, A lion's head erased proper, gorged with a plain collar gules, charged with a bezant. A deep cupboard with paneled door below. On a plinth base. Listed in the 1835 inventory of Wimpole as 'A High deal painted case for archery containing 4 bows etc.' Possibly the 'Cue holder 19th century Hardwicke crest' listed on the South Wall of the Saloon in the 1965 inventory. Bearing the arms of the Yorke Earls of Hardwicke, who owned Wimpole from 1739 - 1894. -- 'Ascham' cabinets, designed to hold bows and arrows, are so-called in honour of Roger Ascham (c. 1515 - 1568) scholar and didactic writer whose first published work was Toxophilus (1545), a treatise commending the practice of shooting with the longbow. It was the first book on archery published in English.
Provenance
Probably acquired by Philip, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke. Listed in the 1835 inventory of Wimpole, taken after his death in 1834, as 'A High deal painted case for archery containing 4 bows etc.' Possibly the 'Cue holder 19th century Hardwicke crest' listed on the South Wall of the Saloon in the 1965 inventory. Thence, presumably be descent, and at Wimpole when the property was acquired byGeorge 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.