Specimen cabinet for mounted butterflies, in the form of a double-doored cabinet, on a stand with cabriole legs, both stand and cabinet are veneered in burr maple and decorated with lithographed scenes romantic ruins and scenery, probably Anton Hiltl, probably Berlin, Germany, 1840-1850

Specimen cabinet for mounted butterflies, in the form of a cabinet-on-stand with cabriole legs. Both stand and cabinet are veneered in burr maple and decorated with lithographed scenes of romantic scenery and ruins and with lithographed borders of scrolling ornament. The cabinet is fitted with 18 specimen drawers in cedar, set in two banks of nine, each drawer with a turned ebony knob and fitted with a sliding glass top panel. The drawers are enclosed by a single wide door (although giving the appearance of a central break), hingeing at the left and held in place on the right by the pilaster, which hinges over the end of the drawer in the manner of a Wellington chest, the lock at the top disguised by a sliding panel in the apparent block above the pilaster. The door is of panelled construction, showing mahogany on the inside. The top of the cabinet is set with a central raised attic plinth, behind a scrolling pediment that provides a front panel or handle to a sliding cover to a hidden compartment set within the plinth. At each corner the cabinet carries an acroteria or upstanding corner ornament in the Greek tradition, the flat, visible faces of these, decorated with lithographed butterflies and plants.

Purchased from Esta Dickson (Antiques) Ltd., 123 Gloucester Road, SW7, in 1965 for £165 (Registered papers 65/558). At the time this was thought to be English, possibly because it was purchased with a pencil drawing of a very similar cabinet (but showing no decoration), which is annotated in pencil 'price about 7Gs' - presumably '7 guineas'). The drawing shows a scale in feet and inches. The drawing, which is watermarked for 1838, is held in departmental files and is puzzling because it appears to be a British record of what seems to be, certainly, a German cabinet. It is interesting to note that the curators advocated its purchase as they were trying to build up the collection of Victorian furniture at the time, but clearly this did not appeal to them. In the acquisition papers there is a note with initials that may indicate that it was by John Hayward, saying 'It also represents the transfer ornament that was fashionable in the most decadent and disagreeable epoch'. The acquisition papers give no further clue to its history.

On loan to Wollaton Hall, Nottingham, ca.1975 - 2012.

The technique of printing on wood is discussed by Irene Allessandra Meneghetti in 'Transfer Printing on Wood: research and replication based on two side tables attributed to Joseph Schneevogl', published in 'Furniture History', vol. LVIII (2022), pp. 157-174. The V&A cabinet is mentioned, but not illustrated, on p. 159 and in note 16.

Johann Georg Hiltl was the first to use the technique of transfer printing on wood in Germany. His son, Anton Hiltl, continued the practice. The technique was used in Britain later on items of souvenir interest such as Mauchline ware. Although the drawing of the cabinet seems to suggest a British origin, the scenes illustrated suggest Germany. It is always possible that the cabinet was imported when new and offered to a client through the medium of the drawing.

This small cabinet-on-stand was probably made for the storage of dried butterfly specimens. It was made in the first half of the nineteenth century, when interest in natural history was extremely high and the collecting of botanical and animal specimens was widely popular among educated people. The cabinet is a rare example of a form of printed decoration on wood that was introduced to Germany, specifically Munich, by cabinet-maker Johann Georg Hiltl (1771-1845) from around 1820. The cabinet, however, was probably made about twenty years later and was almost certainly made in the workshops of Johann Georg's son Anton, who had moved to Berlin in 1824 and been appointed as upholsterer to the Prussian court in 1829. He is known to have made small tables with very similar decoration for Schloss Charlottenhof in Berlin in the 1840s.

W.9:1 to 2 -1965