Anonymous British artist - Pair of doors of a penwork table cabinet in Oriental style

Very fine pair of Regency ( 1811-1820) penwork doors of a table cabinet. Penwork was a very fashionable decoration technique during the Regency period in the U. K. where black lacquer was painted on light timber before being scratched of with a fine pen. Aside from the borders, which were made to imitate Indian ivory inlay, further decoration was added in the form of painted imagery. This was then finished with an applied layer of gloss varnish or shellac. It was most frequently used on boxes or small cabinets to. illustrate pictureques scenes, like people, landscapes, animals, insects or flowers. The imagery would draw on various cultural sources like Greek, Indian and Chinese. In the present case I think that the borders were inspired on Indian ivory inlaid boxes and the central panels were inspired on Chinese wall paper. This pair of doors are memorably colorfull and great fun.