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Lot Essay
With only minor differences in overall design, this elaborately carved and inlaid cabinet is virtually identical to a cabinet that sold at Northeast Auctions, Manchester, New Hampshire, March 3-4, 2001, lot 814 (see fig. 2). Both have carved owl finials, similarly incised carved posts, daisy and bamboo-themed ornament on the drawers, and inlaid urns.
Other examples of the ornament and inlay seen on this cabinet can be seen in a suite of seating furniture commissioned for William H. Vanderbilt (Howe, pp. 210-211, cat. nos. 40-42), as well as a fall-front desk made for Jay Gould at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (ibid, pp. 196-197, cat. no. 35) and a bedstead made for Arabella Worsham Huntington, now in the Saint Louis Art Museum (ibid., pp. 198-199, cat. no. 36.)
Evelyn Siegrest Lamvermeyer, the mother of the current owner, was an opera singer and part of the Cleveland Opera Marquee (fig 1). According to the family, she stored her sheet music in this cabinet.
Other examples of the ornament and inlay seen on this cabinet can be seen in a suite of seating furniture commissioned for William H. Vanderbilt (Howe, pp. 210-211, cat. nos. 40-42), as well as a fall-front desk made for Jay Gould at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (ibid, pp. 196-197, cat. no. 35) and a bedstead made for Arabella Worsham Huntington, now in the Saint Louis Art Museum (ibid., pp. 198-199, cat. no. 36.)
Evelyn Siegrest Lamvermeyer, the mother of the current owner, was an opera singer and part of the Cleveland Opera Marquee (fig 1). According to the family, she stored her sheet music in this cabinet.