Lot Essay
A very similar cabinet from the Burdett family at Ramsbury Manor, Wiltshire, was sold anonymously at Dreweatt Neate, Newbury, 3 February 1993, lot 144.
The distinctive combination of burr maple stained to simulate mulberry and inlaid with pewter stringing is characteristic of the St. Paul's Churchyard makers John Coxed and G. Woster of 'The White Swan'. Traditionally, their most luxurious veneer is classed as mulberry but in an article in 1969 Edward H. Pinto, the great treen collector, suggested that mulberry was too rare and too dull to have been used for large scale veneered furniture. In his experience all the Coxed and Woster furniture was maple stained to simulate mulberry (see: E. H. Pinto, 'The Myth of the Mulberry Burr Veneer', Country Life, 2 October 1969, pp. 794-795
The twisted ribbon inlay corresponds to French 17th century paviour work patterns for plat bandes, such as featured in William Samwell's state bedroom at Ham House, Middlesex, around 1680 (see: Furniture History, 1980, fig.122)
The distinctive combination of burr maple stained to simulate mulberry and inlaid with pewter stringing is characteristic of the St. Paul's Churchyard makers John Coxed and G. Woster of 'The White Swan'. Traditionally, their most luxurious veneer is classed as mulberry but in an article in 1969 Edward H. Pinto, the great treen collector, suggested that mulberry was too rare and too dull to have been used for large scale veneered furniture. In his experience all the Coxed and Woster furniture was maple stained to simulate mulberry (see: E. H. Pinto, 'The Myth of the Mulberry Burr Veneer', Country Life, 2 October 1969, pp. 794-795
The twisted ribbon inlay corresponds to French 17th century paviour work patterns for plat bandes, such as featured in William Samwell's state bedroom at Ham House, Middlesex, around 1680 (see: Furniture History, 1980, fig.122)