Cabinet on stand
Category
Furniture
Date
c. 1775
Materials
Satinwood, mahogany, oak drawer linings, burr elm, brass
Measurements
137.5 x 63 x 26 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 871443
Summary
A satinwood, mahogany and fruitwood marquetry cabinet on stand, English, circa 1775. The top inlaid with a book (titled '1') amidst a spray of berried leaves and edged by a moulded cornice above a frieze topped by an upper register of applied dentils between pierced roundels. The frieze proper inlaid with two sprays of slender leaves either side of a flowerhead. The pair of doors with waisted satinwood panels forming the ground for inlay of trophies, a riband-topped medallion and berried leaves and enclosing a mahogany-veneered interior of shelves and two banks of four graduated short drawers fitted with brass handles and veneered with burr elm. The stand with shaped friezes crossbanded in harewood and with a satinwood ground inlaid with a central wreath between sprays of flowers. The legs tapering and square-section and with ebonized collars. The edges of the interior finely finished with chequered inlay of various designs.
Full description
This cabinet incorporates a variety of decoratively figured timbers in its inlay and veneers. It is part of a small group of highly decorated furniture which, albeit very striking, has not yet been attributed to any single maker. Other examples include pieces made for important patrons and houses: a commode at Nostell Priory (NT 959741) has similarly-shaped inlaid panels to the doors; a bonheur-du-jour sold at Christie's on 20 November 1986, a bonheur-du-jour in the collections of the National Trust at Dunham Massey (NT 930619) and a pair of serpentine side tables sold from the estate of the 4th Lord Wrottesley at Sotheby's on 28 June 1968 (Lot 162) all features crossbanded, shaped friezes inlaid with meandering sprays of foliage including slender leaves. These characteristics have lead furniture historians to attribute other pieces in the group to an unkown cabinet-maker working in London in the 18th century but who had trained, or worked, in Europe, and probably in Paris earlier in his career. England's artistic and material culture benefited greatly from an influx of craftsmen from all over Europe in the 18th century. The shallow drawers to the interior of the Saltram cabinet were used in the late 19th century to store birds' egg specimens. Several of the drawers still bear slender paper labels with inked inscriptions; one of these is dated 1891.
Provenance
Date of introduction to Saltram not recorded, but at Saltram by 1951 and accepted by HM Treasury in lieu of full payment of Death Duty from the Executors of Edmund Robert Parker (1878 – 1951), 4th Earl of Morley and transferred to the National Trust in 1957.
Marks and inscriptions
Drawers: Various - to include 'Finch 1891', 'Yellowhammer', 'Cheffinch Bullfinch'
References
Wood, 1994: Lucy Wood, The Lady Lever Art Gallery, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 133 - 134