Description
An English early-18th century blue japanned corner cupboard, or cabinet.
Queen Anne period, ca 1710.
The door with pierced-brass butterfly hinges, and decorated with typical chinoiserie scenes of figures in an imaginary, whimsical, exotic landscape with pavilions, trees, lake, and figures on horseback. This Oriental taste was at its height in England at the turn of the 18th century.
Other ground colours (besides black) are rare – particularly this one – in blue.
General condition of the decoration to this antique is well defined, with slight shrinkage to the door panel.
Surface wear commensurate with over 300 years of use. The interior with the three, original, fitted shelves. Carcass is in oak.
Percy Macquoid states in his ‘History of English Furniture, Vol. 1, The Age of Oak and Walnut’ on p. 147 ”The greater portion of lacquer furniture was black, with gold design, but occasionally the ground was an intense red, being composed of Spanish Vermillion and Venice lacquer.” Japanning and lacquering were terms often confusingly interchanged.
Refs:
‘A treatise of japanning and varnishing: being a compleat discovery’… https://archive.org/details/treatisejapanin00Stal
‘A treatise of japanning and varnishing’ – Smithsonian Libraries https://library.si.edu › Books
Cabinets: V & A ‘Search the Collections’ – collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127616/cabinet/
