Pair of encoignures with doors showing floral marquetry, by Jean-François Oeben. French, c. 1760

Pair of triangular corner cupboards (encoignures) on raised feet. Each with a single frieze drawer, above two doors enclosing a single cupboard.

The cases are of oak, veneered with tulipwood. On either side of the cupboard doors are vertical curvilinear strips, decorated with a cubed marquetry pattern in tulipwood, kingwood and green-stained sycamore. Reserves on the friezes, plinths and back edges of the front stiles are veneered with reserves of green-stained sycamore. Each cupboard door is decorated with a marquetry panel showing a different bouquet of flowers. These include lilies, roses and carnations.

Each cabinet has gilt-brass mounts and a marble slab. Both cases are stamped, underneath the marble, 'J.F. OEBEN' and 'JME'.

Bequeathed by John Jones

This pair of corner cupboards entered the Museum in 1882 as part of a large bequest by the military tailor John Jones. Nothing is know about their provenance before they entered Mr Jones' collection.

In 1899, measured drawings of the cabinets were published by the Museum in W.G. Paulson Townsend's book Measured Drawings of French Furniture in the South Kensington Museum (plates 102-6). This book allowed contemporary cabinet-makers to make reproductions of French 18th-century furniture, supplying the vibrant market that existed for these objects in late 19th-century London.

This pair of corner cupboards (encoignures) is stamped by the German-born cabinetmaker Jean François Oeben (1721-1763). Oeben, who came to Paris in 1749, was made a Master cabinetmaker in 1754. He was given a license to supply furniture to the French royal palaces in 1759.

Oeben was among the first cabinetmakers to adopt the Neoclassical style, of which this pair of cupboards is an important early example. The cubed marquetry decoration on the sides of the cupboards, and the forms of the gilt-brass mounts, are particularly typical of Oeben's Neoclassical work.

1114-1882