CIRCA 1680

The two-door cabinet enclosing small drawers is one of the most successful examples of authentic Asian design that was translated for domestic use in Europe. In Japan and China these cabinets usually stood on the floor, this cabinet, however, was made entirely in Britain and is a striking example of the highly developed skill of the craftsman who decorated it. The superb Japanning bears close comparison with Japanese lacquer of a similar date, including taka-maki-e, or the rendering of details in bold relief, and hira-maki-e, sprinkled gold effects. The flamboyantly carved silvered cresting and stand create the perfect foil to the strict rectangular form of the cabinet creating an imposing overall effect, something brought into even sharper focus when it is considered in the context of its own time following the austerity of the Commonwealth. This particular type of cabinet-on-stand and its close variants came into fashion in the late 17th century and the evolution of the form carried on into the early 18th century, making the present example, from circa 1680, an early example of its type. The columnar legs and arched stretchers also feature on pier tables and chairs of this date. This cabinet is all the more rare in having retained its striking cresting as these were frequently separated from the cabinets by later generations either through damage or change of fashion.

A cabinet with remarkably similar stand and cresting formerly in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and now at Temple Newsam House, Leeds is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1954, rev. ed., vol. I, pl. III, p. 176, fig. 24. A further closely related cabinet was sold Christie's, New York, 11 October 2011, lot 130.