CIRCA 1810

This cabinet reflects the early 19th-century fashion for exotic oriental interiors as promoted by the Prince of Wales, later George IV, in his pavilion at Brighton. The imitation of imported Oriental lacquer cabinets, integral to English interiors since the 17th century, and the updated ornamentation of this form can be appreciated with this piece. During the Regency, many William and Mary and Kentian giltwood stands made for late 17th and early 18th-century Chinese lacquer cabinets were replaced with massive ormolu or giltwood feet or giltwood stands in the latest taste. The present cabinet, precisely copying Chinese prototypes, is further fitted with a pierced brass gallery and a white marble top. Not only did the latter facilitate the placement of objects on the cabinet, thus increasing its decorative potential as a Westernized piece of furniture, but the white was a favored Regency color and provided contrast with the rich black, gold, and cinnabar decoration of the cabinet. A set of four cabinets with ormolu paw feet and white marble tops now at Buckingham Palace (illustrated surmounted by an ormolu-mounted céladon vase in J. Harris, G. de Bellaigue, & O. Millar, Buckingham Palace and Its Treasures, New York, 1968, p. 171) were recorded by John Nash on 26 July 1823 in an engraving of the Banqueting Room Gallery of the Regent's Pavilion at Brighton. Another pair simply placed in giltwood stands with ebonized bases, possibly acquired by George, 3rd Earl of Guilford (1757-1802) for Waldershare Park, Kent or Wroxton Abbey, Oxfordshire was sold from the collection of the 6th Marquess of Bute, Christie's London, 3 July 1996, lot 45 (£51,000). The present cabinet and the aforementioned six all have the same configuration of drawers.