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Lot Essay
The ingenious chest, with fitted drawer for a gentleman's dressing accoutrements, perfectly demonstates the cross-pollination of east and west in the 18th century.
The furniture produced as a result of the China trade in the mid 18th century conformed almost entirely to western printed sources. The present chest is designed in the eclectic 'Modern' George II fashion advertised by Messrs. Ince & Mayhew's Universal System of Household Furniture, 1762, and features fret-carving such as was promoted in Thomas Chippendale's Director, 1762, pls. CCCII and CXCIII. It is however, executed in lustrous padouk, with applied ebony mouldings, 'exotic' drawer-linings and drawer handles made of paktong, an alloy of copper, zinc, and nickle, resembling silver and sometimes called Chinese nickel-silver.
Records show that members of the East India Company commissioned custom-designed furniture made by Chinese craftsmen whilst in Canton in the 18th Century. The furniture was then shipped back to the West upon completion of their stay in China.
Related examples including a secretaire chest and metamorphic Pembroke table, both of typically restrained 'Georgian' style and fitted with the same patterned handles as the present lot, are illustrated in Carl L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, Woodbridge, 1991, p.227, colour plate 80, and p.240, colour plate 90.
The furniture produced as a result of the China trade in the mid 18th century conformed almost entirely to western printed sources. The present chest is designed in the eclectic 'Modern' George II fashion advertised by Messrs. Ince & Mayhew's Universal System of Household Furniture, 1762, and features fret-carving such as was promoted in Thomas Chippendale's Director, 1762, pls. CCCII and CXCIII. It is however, executed in lustrous padouk, with applied ebony mouldings, 'exotic' drawer-linings and drawer handles made of paktong, an alloy of copper, zinc, and nickle, resembling silver and sometimes called Chinese nickel-silver.
Records show that members of the East India Company commissioned custom-designed furniture made by Chinese craftsmen whilst in Canton in the 18th Century. The furniture was then shipped back to the West upon completion of their stay in China.
Related examples including a secretaire chest and metamorphic Pembroke table, both of typically restrained 'Georgian' style and fitted with the same patterned handles as the present lot, are illustrated in Carl L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, Woodbridge, 1991, p.227, colour plate 80, and p.240, colour plate 90.