Lot Essay
This fascinating pair of cabinets perfectly reflect the profound influence of the East India Company trade on English cabinet-makers and patrons throughout the 18th and early 19th century. Intriguingly, whilst the earlier mahogany cabinet was made in England around 1750, the rosewood cabinet was expressly commissioned, perhaps in India or the Far East, to form a pair.
The George II mahogany cabinet, originally fitted with six drawers with the drawer fronts formed by the soapstone panels is supported on a superbly-carved stand that displays a collar encircling the lower part of the leg, a distinctive feature of the furniture that William Hallett supplied to Viscount Irwin, delivered on 9 August 1735. Shortly after Lord Irwin's death the following year the suite was taken to Temple Newsam, remaining there until the dispersal sale in 1922. The suite was illustrated along with the original invoice in C. Gilbert, 'Newly-Discovered Furniture by William Hallett', The Connoisseur, December 1964, pp. 224-225. William Hallett Snr, was established in Gt. Newport St, Long Acre,in 1735 but despite an illustrious career including major commissions for Holkham, Norfolk (1737 - 52), Cannon Hall, Yorks (1741) and St. Giles's, Dorset (1745 - 46) it seems he probably retired from the trade after his second marriage in 1756; he died in 1781. His son however, William Hallet Jnr did continue in business for some years though he pre-deceased his father.
The second cabinet, made of Indian rosewood, differs in notable ways, for example in the fitting of the door and the stand being finished on the reverse, certainly unconventional in the context of English cabinet-making. However, the metal side handles are of Chinese pattern and infer that this was executed overseas by way of a special commission.
Cabinets of this type were certainly popular items in the mid 18th century, offering opportunities to display precious or exotic works of art incorporated into cabinets offering some useful function. A cabinet in the Chinese style with similar soapstone figures on imitation lacquer background, supplied for Langley Park, Norfolk, is illustrated in Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, fig. 270.
The George II mahogany cabinet, originally fitted with six drawers with the drawer fronts formed by the soapstone panels is supported on a superbly-carved stand that displays a collar encircling the lower part of the leg, a distinctive feature of the furniture that William Hallett supplied to Viscount Irwin, delivered on 9 August 1735. Shortly after Lord Irwin's death the following year the suite was taken to Temple Newsam, remaining there until the dispersal sale in 1922. The suite was illustrated along with the original invoice in C. Gilbert, 'Newly-Discovered Furniture by William Hallett', The Connoisseur, December 1964, pp. 224-225. William Hallett Snr, was established in Gt. Newport St, Long Acre,in 1735 but despite an illustrious career including major commissions for Holkham, Norfolk (1737 - 52), Cannon Hall, Yorks (1741) and St. Giles's, Dorset (1745 - 46) it seems he probably retired from the trade after his second marriage in 1756; he died in 1781. His son however, William Hallet Jnr did continue in business for some years though he pre-deceased his father.
The second cabinet, made of Indian rosewood, differs in notable ways, for example in the fitting of the door and the stand being finished on the reverse, certainly unconventional in the context of English cabinet-making. However, the metal side handles are of Chinese pattern and infer that this was executed overseas by way of a special commission.
Cabinets of this type were certainly popular items in the mid 18th century, offering opportunities to display precious or exotic works of art incorporated into cabinets offering some useful function. A cabinet in the Chinese style with similar soapstone figures on imitation lacquer background, supplied for Langley Park, Norfolk, is illustrated in Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, fig. 270.