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Lot Essay
This bureau-cabinet is in the manner of the St Paul's Churchyard cabinet-maker John Coxed (fl. 1711-1718) who was established at The White Swan workshop in 1711. He was succeeded there by his widow Grace Coxed and Thomas Woster, a brother-in-law of Grace Coxed's. The workshop seems to have specialised in the making of bureaux and bureau-cabinets. A cabinet discussed by A. Bowett shares several similarities with the present lot: the same configuration of drawers in the lower section, a plain element running along the base of the upper section and no surbase securing moulding. Although the cabinet is known only from a photograph, it is suggested that John Coxed manufactured bureaux and bureau-cabinets using a common lower carcase, which might explain the use of veneer on the top the bureau section of this cabinet. Besides these similarities, Bowett also notes that the crossbanding on the drawers set in slightly from the edge is a feature of Coxed's work (A. Bowett & L. Lindey, 'Labelled Furniture from The White Swan Workshop in St Paul's Churchyard (1711-35)', Furniture History, 2003, pp. 74, 78-79, fig. 8).
Coxed and Woster are often associated with the erroneous term 'mulberry' furniture. This is in fact furniture veneered in maple or elm stained to produce a rich golden tone, possibly to resemble tortoiseshell or marble or perhaps simply decorative in its own right. The use of pewter or some white metal inlay was often also used.
The process of creating this veneer is derived from two methods outlined in Stalker and Parker's Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing, 1688. The chosen veneer (often ash, elm or most commonly, maple), is stained yellow, or possibly red, with Aqua fortis (nitric acid) and then rubbed with 'lampblack' (soot). The acid penetrates deeply into areas of soft grain which the lampblack colours richly, giving rise to a three-dimensional effect. The final stage is to pare back the surface until the desired contrast of light and dark is achieved. For a full discussion of the technique and many of the myths surrounding the fashion of stained ash, elm or maple veneering at this date (A. Bowett, 'Myths of English Furniture History: Mulberry Wood Furniture by Coxed and Woster', Antique Collecting, October 1998, pp. 32-35).
Coxed and Woster are often associated with the erroneous term 'mulberry' furniture. This is in fact furniture veneered in maple or elm stained to produce a rich golden tone, possibly to resemble tortoiseshell or marble or perhaps simply decorative in its own right. The use of pewter or some white metal inlay was often also used.
The process of creating this veneer is derived from two methods outlined in Stalker and Parker's Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing, 1688. The chosen veneer (often ash, elm or most commonly, maple), is stained yellow, or possibly red, with Aqua fortis (nitric acid) and then rubbed with 'lampblack' (soot). The acid penetrates deeply into areas of soft grain which the lampblack colours richly, giving rise to a three-dimensional effect. The final stage is to pare back the surface until the desired contrast of light and dark is achieved. For a full discussion of the technique and many of the myths surrounding the fashion of stained ash, elm or maple veneering at this date (A. Bowett, 'Myths of English Furniture History: Mulberry Wood Furniture by Coxed and Woster', Antique Collecting, October 1998, pp. 32-35).