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Lot Essay
This secretaire-cabinet is attributed to the St Paul's Churchyard cabinet-makers Coxed and Woster. The business was established around 1703 by John Coxed and after his death in 1718 was continued by Grace Coxed in partnership with Thomas Woster. The name has become synonymous with a particular type of case furniture veneered in so-called `mulberry' - actually stained burr maple or sycamore, perhaps intended to imitate tortoiseshell, but the full range of their wares is evident from the large number of surviving bureaux and cabinets that bear their label, many veneered in walnut or made of oak. A later form of their label offered a fuller list of goods that they could supply, including `Dutch and India Tea-Tables .... Large Sconces, Dressing Sets and Wainscot -Work of all sorts'.
The cabinet offered here corresponds closely to two bearing John Coxed's trade label of circa 1710 - 15, both illustrated in A. Bowett, English Furniture 1660 - 1714, Woodbridge, 2002, p.226, pls. 7.59 and 7.60, and another bearing the Coxed & Woster's later style of label circa 1720, is illustrated in C.Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700 - 1840, Leeds, 1996, p.161, fig. 250.
The cabinet offered here corresponds closely to two bearing John Coxed's trade label of circa 1710 - 15, both illustrated in A. Bowett, English Furniture 1660 - 1714, Woodbridge, 2002, p.226, pls. 7.59 and 7.60, and another bearing the Coxed & Woster's later style of label circa 1720, is illustrated in C.Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700 - 1840, Leeds, 1996, p.161, fig. 250.