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Lot Essay
The Cabinet Maker and Art Furnisher of 1887 shows a 'rough memory' sketch of a sideboard of this design exhibited at the 1887 Manchester Jubilee Exhibition, and notes that 'the lines of the Manchester sideboard may be studied, for they are fresh'. The sketch is very closely related to the current lot, and may illustrate the very same piece; the only other known example (illustrated op.cit.) not featuring the intricate inlay seen to the rear gallery on both the current lot and the sketches. Manchester was an important part of the Morris & Co. empire, as they exhibited at the Manchester Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition of 1882, and opened a shop there in 1883.
The early date of the current model places this design at a key point in Jack's stylistic development. George Washington Jack was born in Long Island, New York but returned to Glasgow with his widowed mother at the age of six. After being articled he went on to became a permanent member of Philip Webb's staff in 1882, acting as a draughtsman and site architect. Webb soon provided an introduction to William Morris and, from 1885, Jack began to designing furniture on a commissioned basis for Morris & Co, as well as continuing his assistant position in Webb's architectural office, which he was later to take over. This imposing sideboard was designed shortly afterwards, when Jack was 32, and shows both his preference for 18th century inspired forms, but here combined with an awareness in the marquetry inlay of the proto-Art Nouveau movement, first seen in A.H. Mackmurdo's designs of 1882-85. Intriguingly, Amy Gaimster (George Jack 1855-1931, Dorchester, 2006, p. 19) notes that on the 22nd April 1887 Jack was paid 9.9.0 for a design of an inlaid sideboard. The timing of this piece, 1887, also coincides with the year Morris & Co. purchased the Holland & Sons cabinet-making workshop in Pimlico, thereby acquiring one of the most skilled teams of craftsmen available. The calibre and stature of the present lot suggests it may have been one of the first works produced by the freshly acquired workshop for an important exhibition in the firm's calendar. Pre-dating the first exhibition of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society, which took place in London in November 1888, the current lot is a clear statement by a young designer keen to demonstrate his talent.
The early date of the current model places this design at a key point in Jack's stylistic development. George Washington Jack was born in Long Island, New York but returned to Glasgow with his widowed mother at the age of six. After being articled he went on to became a permanent member of Philip Webb's staff in 1882, acting as a draughtsman and site architect. Webb soon provided an introduction to William Morris and, from 1885, Jack began to designing furniture on a commissioned basis for Morris & Co, as well as continuing his assistant position in Webb's architectural office, which he was later to take over. This imposing sideboard was designed shortly afterwards, when Jack was 32, and shows both his preference for 18th century inspired forms, but here combined with an awareness in the marquetry inlay of the proto-Art Nouveau movement, first seen in A.H. Mackmurdo's designs of 1882-85. Intriguingly, Amy Gaimster (George Jack 1855-1931, Dorchester, 2006, p. 19) notes that on the 22nd April 1887 Jack was paid 9.9.0 for a design of an inlaid sideboard. The timing of this piece, 1887, also coincides with the year Morris & Co. purchased the Holland & Sons cabinet-making workshop in Pimlico, thereby acquiring one of the most skilled teams of craftsmen available. The calibre and stature of the present lot suggests it may have been one of the first works produced by the freshly acquired workshop for an important exhibition in the firm's calendar. Pre-dating the first exhibition of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society, which took place in London in November 1888, the current lot is a clear statement by a young designer keen to demonstrate his talent.