ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS CHIPPENDALE, CIRCA 1755

The treatment to the doors of the present cabinet with panels enriched with acanthus leaves at the corners follows a design in plate CIV of the first edition of Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754. Related serpentine moulding also features on a coin cabinet formerly at Stratfield Saye, the seat of the Dukes of Wellington, now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, which was executed by William Vile (d. 1767), and probably made for Frederick, Prince of Wales, circa 1750.
The attribution to Chippendale is supported on constructional grounds, since the use of laminated blocks to the feet, the red wash that is applied to secondary timbers, and other features, are associated with Chippendale's known workshop practices.