A SILVER MOUNTED CABINET FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF THE DUKES OF DEVONSHIRE, CHATSWORTH

A Fine Lacquer Cabinet on English Stand

EDO PERIOD (LATE 17TH CENTURY)

Details

A Fine Lacquer Cabinet on English Stand
Edo Period (late 17th century)
The rectangular cabinet with two hinged doors finely decorated in gold and silver takamaki-e, hiramaki-e, kirigane and nashiji on a black ground with a village of thatched huts beneath trees beside a lake and a pagoda on a rocky outcrop, two doors opening to reveal various sized drawers each with landscapes of huts and temples amongst rolling hills and a boat on water, the elaborate silver fittings engraved with karakusa and the centre key plate with a tiger amongst bamboo and plum trees, on an English black Japanned stand (18th century)
130cm. x 72cm. x 45cm.

Provenance

The Dukes of Devonshire, Chatsworth

Literature

The Duchess of Devonshire, Chatsworth - The House, (London, 2002), p.94

Lot Essay

The Chatsworth Inventory of 1764 records a number of India cabinets upon frames in the state dressing room, drawing room, the Queen of Scotts large dressing room and in the bed chamber after that room. It is possible that this cabinet is one of those acquired by William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (d.1764) following the death George II in 1760, originally in the collection of Queen Mary II.

The black Japanned stand is designed in "the Modern" Chinese fashion popularised by Thomas Chippendale's, Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754.

For similar examples and a discussion on Pictorial cabinets without borders on doors, see Oliver Impey and Christiaan Jorg, Japanese Export Lacquer: 1580-1850, (The Netherlands, 2005), p.132-134

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