CIRCA 1720

Details

A GEORGE I ENGRAVED BRASS-MOUNTED BLACK AND GILT-JAPANNED CABINET-ON-CHEST
Circa 1720
The molded double-arched cornice with arched sides surmounted by three later figural finials above a pair of arched doors decorated as one with a riverscape with pagodas and Chinese figures and fighting dragons, the door interiors decorated with a flaming dog or an archer, each in a landscape, enclosing ten various sized drawers each decorated with a landscape vignette, above a yellow felt-lined pull-out writing surface, the lower section with molded edge above two short drawers and two graduated long drawers, each decorated with a landscape vignette, either side of the top and bottom decorated with a male figure holding a beribboned flag on a staff, on a molded base and later bun feet, the lower section remounted, the figural finials later, restoration to decoration particularly to raised areas
84in. (213.5cm) high, 42½in. (108cm) wide, 21in. (53.5cm) deep

Provenance

The Bingham Family, Kent, England (purchased by James Williams, 1965). Acquired by the mother of the present owner from James Williams, Savannah, Georgia.

Lot Essay

The fantastical 'japanned' decoration on this piece, partially conceived in low relief, reflects the fashion for Chinese ornament inspired by imported lacquer screens and chests and promoted by Messrs. Stalker and Parker in A Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing of 1688. Elements of the decoration, including the large-scale fan-bearing figures to the sides of the base, and the cell-pattern reserves surrounding the arched doors, appear on a bureau-cabinet supplied by the cabinet-maker John Belchier for Erddig Castle, Wales in the early 1720s (see M. Drury, 'Early Eighteenth-Century Furniture at Erddig', Apollo, July 1978, pp.52-53, pl.11). Another cabinet-on-chest of this form with cell-pattern reserves and continuous scenes to the doors is illustrated in P. Macquoid, The Age of Walnut, London, 1905, col.plate opposite p.152. Another similr is illustrated in M. Harris and Sons, A Catalogue and Index of Old Furniure and Works of Decorative Art, part 1, n.d. (c.1928), p.101.
This cabinet was purchased by the present owner's mother from the antique dealer James Williams of Savannah, Georgia, now renowned as the central character in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

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