POSSIBLY BY CRACE AND SON, CIRCA 1820

The wardrobe's ornate form and vivid decoration recall the Prince of Wale's transformation of the Brighton Pavilion with its fantastical oriental interiors executed between 1815-1822 by his principal designers, John and Frederick Crace. Frederick (d. 1859) and his father, proprietors of Crace and Sons, 14 Wigmore Street, aside from the overall supervision at Brighton, supplied the designs for the interiors and furniture, importing Chinese curiosities such as bamboo and lacquer. The wardrobe's unusual waved form with bolection molding and large scale figural decoration also feature on a secretaire and companion side cabinet, now at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, attributed to the Craces. These pieces are similarly decorated on limewood with an oak back, while their decoration features Chinese lacquer overlaid onto European japanning, which lacking on this piece. They once belonged to Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore and close friends with King George III and Queen Charlotte (G. G. Ramsey, 'A Moment of Cathay', The Connoisseur, May 1964, pp. 31-34, figs. 1-2).