A WILLIAM AND MARY BRASS-MOUNTED COROMANDEL LACQUER CABINET ON QUEEN ANNE STAND

THE CABINET LATE 17TH CENTURY, THE STAND EARLY 18TH CENTURY AND EXTENDED TO ACCOMMODATE THE CABINET AND WITH CONSEQUENTIAL REFRESHMENTS TO DECORATION, THE BRASS ASSOCIATED

細節

A WILLIAM AND MARY BRASS-MOUNTED COROMANDEL LACQUER CABINET ON QUEEN ANNE STAND
THE CABINET LATE 17TH CENTURY, THE STAND EARLY 18TH CENTURY AND EXTENDED TO ACCOMMODATE THE CABINET AND WITH CONSEQUENTIAL REFRESHMENTS TO DECORATION, THE BRASS ASSOCIATED
The rectangular cabinet decorated overall with polychrome Chinese figures and animals in landscapes on a black ground, the two doors enclosing eleven variously-sized polychrome paper-lined drawers, on the similarly-japanned stand with molded apron and on cabriole legs, the feet replaced, the frame of stand re-enforced to inside, the reverse with old paper label inscribed H. TIMSON & SON STORERS LEICESTER 3217, the brass probably 18th Century but associated as there are four nail holes beneath the lock plate and signs of differing hinges
63 in. (160 cm.) high, 43½ in. (110 cm.) wide, 22½ in. (57 cm.) deep

來源

Mrs. M.L. Morgan, Christie's, London, 26 June 1969, lot 73.

拍品專文

This cabinet is decorated in the kehui, or incised ash, technique, in which a grey undercoat is lacquered over with black, carved until the grey undercoat shows through, and then painted with brightly coloured lacquer. The term Coromandel, refers to the area of coastline in East India from where the English East India Company operated trading posts, exporting this type of lacquer from central and northern China to Europe during the 17th century. In England the technique was copied and became known as 'Bantam-work' after the Dutch colony Batavia in Indonesia, from where this type of lacquer may have originally been exported.

A similar pair of caskets, dating to the mid-17th Century, with Portuguese-style mounts and floral decoration on the drawers inspired by printing block designs, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum and illustrated by Craig Clunas et al., Chinese Export Art and Design, London, 1987, pl. 62, p. 81. See also Clunas, op.cit., 1987, pl. 63, p. 83 for another, larger cabinet decorated on the interior with similar blue and green 'Tang' style landscape scenes which relates to the decoration of the present cabinet.