A George I walnut and burr-walnut cabinet on chest, circa...
the two book-matched and feather-banded panel doors enclosing an arrangements of drawers and a central brushing slide, the lower section with two short and two long drawers, on scroll feet, restorations
219cm high, 150 cm wide, 65cm deep; 7ft. 2¼ in. 4ft. 11in., 2ft. 1 ½in.
Condition Report:
On an impressive scale. The piece has been extensively restored, most probably in the 19th century. The doors with typical movement and splits, with a later vertical moulding applied to the centre. The surface has been re-polished, the figuring of the timber has been enhanced with paint. The inner sections of a darker colour, as the be expected, and some fading to the front and to one side. Sections of veneers and moulding are missing, there are some replacements and one piece of moulding is detached but present. A section of veneer to the bottom right with an old painted restoration. The scroll feet are probably later, and one scroll foot is 'chewed' with old worm damage. Elements of blocking to the cornice probably later, and there are some losses to the moulding of the cornice as well. Some metalwork elements loose and with missing pins, and the bottom-left clasp outwardly bent. The unusual oval-form escutcheon possibly contemporary to the piece.
Catalogue Note:
This impressive cabinet-on-chest features not only highly decorative quartered burr veneers to the panel doors, but also incorporates distinctively Japanese corner hinges. These unmistakeable hinges are clearly influenced by the lacquer cabinets-on-stands that came to Europe via the Dutch East India Company, and became prized collector’s pieces – an example of corner hinges in this style can be seen on the Japanese cabinet in this sale, lot 109. These hinges contrast with the European practice of concealing hinges in the interior of cabinet doors, and often make an appearance on English pieces that have been ‘japanned’ to imitate lacquer, as on the piece pictured as plates 3:82 and 3:83 in Bowett’s Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740.1 When they do appear on cabinets of more English form, they tend to be attributed to Coxed and Woster on account of the labelled examples pictured in the Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840.2 For example, a wood-veneered example with these Japanese-style hinges was offered at Christie’s New York, 14th October 2004, lot 41. These distinctive hinges also often overlap with so-called ‘mulberry’ staining to the veneers and pewter stringing, both absent on the present lot but seen on the above-mentioned examples. Another detail that suggests a Coxed and Woster attribution for the present lot, though, is the unusual scrolled feet, which are rare but present on an example by Coxed and Woster pictured in English Furniture 1500-1840.3 The quality and scale of this lot raise the possibility of a bespoke commission, making it plausible that the scrolled feet and hinges were preferred by a client who decided against the other typical feature of the work of Coxed and Woster, the ‘mulberry’ surface.
Easton Neston is a house in Northamptonshire that is one of the architectural gems of the English Baroque style – built in 1702, it is the only private mansion designed solely by Nicholas Hawksmoor. Since it was continually in the private hands of the Fermor-Hesketh family by descent until 2005, the house was not opened to the public and remained somewhat mysterious. This cabinet-on-chest was visible in the 1908 and 1927 articles on Easton Neston in Country Life, and was sold as part of the two-part sale of selected contents of the house at Sotheby’s on 17th-19th May 2005.
1 Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2009, pp.138-139, pl.3:82 and 3:83.
2 Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, pp.156-157, figs. 241 and 242.
3 Geoffrey Beard and Judith Goodison, English Furniture 1500-1840, Oxford, 1987, p.70, fig.1.
Provenance:
Possibly Thomas 1st Earl of Pomfret (1690-1753), being part of the original furnishing of Easton Neston;
Recorded in the first inventory of the contents of the house in 1889;
Sold Sotheby's, Easton Neston, 17-19th May 2005, lot 225.
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the two book-matched and feather-banded panel doors enclosing an arrangements of drawers and a central brushing slide, the lower section with two short and two long drawers, on scroll feet, restorations
219cm high, 150 cm wide, 65cm deep; 7ft. 2¼ in. 4ft. 11in., 2ft. 1 ½in.
Condition Report:
On an impressive scale. The piece has been extensively restored, most probably in the 19th century. The doors with typical movement and splits, with a later vertical moulding applied to the centre. The surface has been re-polished, the figuring of the timber has been enhanced with paint. The inner sections of a darker colour, as the be expected, and some fading to the front and to one side. Sections of veneers and moulding are missing, there are some replacements and one piece of moulding is detached but present. A section of veneer to the bottom right with an old painted restoration. The scroll feet are probably later, and one scroll foot is 'chewed' with old worm damage. Elements of blocking to the cornice probably later, and there are some losses to the moulding of the cornice as well. Some metalwork elements loose and with missing pins, and the bottom-left clasp outwardly bent. The unusual oval-form escutcheon possibly contemporary to the piece.
Catalogue Note:
This impressive cabinet-on-chest features not only highly decorative quartered burr veneers to the panel doors, but also incorporates distinctively Japanese corner hinges. These unmistakeable hinges are clearly influenced by the lacquer cabinets-on-stands that came to Europe via the Dutch East India Company, and became prized collector’s pieces – an example of corner hinges in this style can be seen on the Japanese cabinet in this sale, lot 109. These hinges contrast with the European practice of concealing hinges in the interior of cabinet doors, and often make an appearance on English pieces that have been ‘japanned’ to imitate lacquer, as on the piece pictured as plates 3:82 and 3:83 in Bowett’s Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740.1 When they do appear on cabinets of more English form, they tend to be attributed to Coxed and Woster on account of the labelled examples pictured in the Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840.2 For example, a wood-veneered example with these Japanese-style hinges was offered at Christie’s New York, 14th October 2004, lot 41. These distinctive hinges also often overlap with so-called ‘mulberry’ staining to the veneers and pewter stringing, both absent on the present lot but seen on the above-mentioned examples. Another detail that suggests a Coxed and Woster attribution for the present lot, though, is the unusual scrolled feet, which are rare but present on an example by Coxed and Woster pictured in English Furniture 1500-1840.3 The quality and scale of this lot raise the possibility of a bespoke commission, making it plausible that the scrolled feet and hinges were preferred by a client who decided against the other typical feature of the work of Coxed and Woster, the ‘mulberry’ surface.
Easton Neston is a house in Northamptonshire that is one of the architectural gems of the English Baroque style – built in 1702, it is the only private mansion designed solely by Nicholas Hawksmoor. Since it was continually in the private hands of the Fermor-Hesketh family by descent until 2005, the house was not opened to the public and remained somewhat mysterious. This cabinet-on-chest was visible in the 1908 and 1927 articles on Easton Neston in Country Life, and was sold as part of the two-part sale of selected contents of the house at Sotheby’s on 17th-19th May 2005.
1 Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2009, pp.138-139, pl.3:82 and 3:83.
2 Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, pp.156-157, figs. 241 and 242.
3 Geoffrey Beard and Judith Goodison, English Furniture 1500-1840, Oxford, 1987, p.70, fig.1.
Provenance:
Possibly Thomas 1st Earl of Pomfret (1690-1753), being part of the original furnishing of Easton Neston;
Recorded in the first inventory of the contents of the house in 1889;
Sold Sotheby's, Easton Neston, 17-19th May 2005, lot 225.
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Time, Location
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