Description
The top section with a double dome and with two doors revealing a fully fitted interior. The base with a writing section.
This rare secretaire has survived for over 300 years in remarkably original state with its original mounts and bun feet. Decorated overall with chinoiserie scenes. William & Mary period (1689-1702). Finials are replacements.
H: 209 cm.
W: 105 cm.
D: 53 cm.
BHA 965
Ca 1690.
Nb.
An English japanned cabinet of almost identical form is illustrated in Percy Macquoid & Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, 1924, (3 vols.), vol. I, p.161, fig.19.
Christies, London, sold a closely related cabinet in 2011 for £58,850. This cabinet was catalogued as Queen Anne circa 1710, but more likely dates from the last quarter of the 17th century.
Ref:
Eerdmans, Emily (2006) “The International Court Style: William & Mary and Queen Anne: 1689-1714, The Call of the Orient”. Classic English Design and Antiques: Period Styles and Furniture; The Hyde Park Antiques Collection, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, pp. 22–25.
Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing by John Stalker & George Parker.
Reprint of the 1688 standard manual on Japanning, Varnishing and Gilding. Text re-set and changed to 80 pages of text, 24 plates (15cm x 21cm, paper), 1998.
Old English walnut & lacquer furniture. The present-day condition and value and the methods of the furniture-faker in producing spurious pieces &c. Herbert Jenkins, London, 1923 [1922].
The present state of old English furniture, Duckworth, London,1921.
Old English Walnut & Lacquer Furniture by R.W. Symonds
English Furniture from Charles ll to George ll by R.W. Symonds.
www.vam.ac.uk/…/the-development-of-english-black-japanning-1620-1820
https://sequinsandcherryblossom.com/2013/01/20/lacquer-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanning
Decorative japanning in the early eighteenth-century…
https://www.incollect.com/articles/a-tale-of-two-high-chests…
