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Table Cabinet

1690-1710 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This chest of drawers was made in England in about 1700. It was decorated with marquetry, then at its most fashionable, and a form of veneer made up of small pieces of natural and artificially coloured woods and applied to all types of furniture, ranging from tables and cabinets to long case clocks. The patterns derived from Dutch still-lives of flowers, particularly tulips, and elaborate scrollwork, devised by French cabinetmakers such as Pierre and Cornelius Gole and André-Charles Boulle, famed for his bronze, pewter and tortoiseshell veneers. Rather than being cut into the carcase wood like inlay, marquetry is glued to the surface.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 7 parts.

  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Key
  • Table Cabinet
Materials and techniques
Walnut with marquetry of sycamore and lighter woods
Brief description
A table cabinet in the form of a miniature chest of drawers, with two short drawers over two long drawers, veneered in walnut on a carcase of softwood, with drawers of oak, the fronts of the drawers and the top set with marquetry of fine arabesques in dark and light wood (possibly walnut and holly).
Physical description
A table cabinet in the form of a miniature chest of drawers, with two short drawers over two long drawers, veneered in walnut on a carcase of softwood, with drawers of oak, the fronts of the drawers and the top set with marquetry of fine arabesques (sometimes described as 'seaweed' marquetry) in dark and light wood (possibly walnut and holly).This marquetry shows arabesques but is quite angular in its cutting. The base and cornice are set with ogee mouldings, in cross-banded walnut. The drawers are divided by half-round mouldings cut from cross-grain walnut. There are holes under the cabinet at each corner, perhaps fixings for original turned feet.
The drawer fronts are outlined with a band of holly, engraved with a feathered band, the engraving filled with black resin. A double stringing separates this banding from the ground of burr walnut, which is inlaid with a panel of arabesque marquetry in walnut on a ground of holly, each panel book-matched at the centre. The top of the cabinet shows a panel of burr walnut, separated by an ebony and holly double stringing from walnut cross banding. The centre is inlaid with an oval panel, outlined with double stringing, of arabesque marquetry in walnut on a ground of holly, the design quartered and matched. The cutting of this marquetry appears even more angular than that on the drawers. On the sides, a ground of burr walnut is similarly separated by double stringing from walnut cross-banding. The main ground are set on each side with an arched panel in double stringing. The sides of these panels run right down to the top of the cross-banding, giving an awkward appearance, as the arched tops look as if they should be matched by reversed arches at the base of the panel. The ogee mouldings at the side look much less cracked than the ones on the front and it may be that they, and perhaps all the veneers above them, have been replaced at some time.
The back is of pine, stained a red-brown and set with the grain running laterally.
Each drawer is set with a lock in the centre of the upper edge.
The cabinet shows a number of repairs, replaced locks etc.
Dimensions
  • Height: 28cm
  • Length: 43.2cm
  • Depth: 31.4cm
When this object was acquired in 1936, the dimensions were said to be as follows: Height 11 ins; Length 17 ins; Depth 12 3/8 ins.
Object history
Marquetry cabinet, gift of Sir Paul A Makins, Bt

Notes from R.P. 36/2940

18/4/36 Letter, Makins to H Clifford Smith
offers "a small cabinet …..in seaweed pattern…about the William & Mary period"

7/6/36 Report, Edwards
"this small cabinet of walnut inlaid with arabesque marquetry, light on dark ground: the sides are decorated with figured walnut. The style of the inlay and the half round mouldings between the drawers indicate a date about 1700…..cabinet of such small size is rare & this is an attractive example. It has lost its original turned handles & there are traces of Victorian repairs, but it is substantially genuine and of the period".

Minute, H Clifford Smith to Director
Requests the Director's acceptance for this "very high class example of English 'seaweed' marquetry….except for the small repairs…appears to be original throughout".

Correspondence, Smith with Makins
Makins later expresses his disappointment that the V & A displayed the miniature cabinet without removing the brass escutcheons from it. Smith writes to him 3 July to say the escutcheons had been taken off and the cabinet looks better without them.
Summary
This chest of drawers was made in England in about 1700. It was decorated with marquetry, then at its most fashionable, and a form of veneer made up of small pieces of natural and artificially coloured woods and applied to all types of furniture, ranging from tables and cabinets to long case clocks. The patterns derived from Dutch still-lives of flowers, particularly tulips, and elaborate scrollwork, devised by French cabinetmakers such as Pierre and Cornelius Gole and André-Charles Boulle, famed for his bronze, pewter and tortoiseshell veneers. Rather than being cut into the carcase wood like inlay, marquetry is glued to the surface.
Collection
Accession number
W.14:1 to 7-1936

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Record createdNovember 30, 2005
Record URL
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