Cabinet with single glass door, veneered in boulle marquetry on an ebonized wood ground, with lacquered brass mounts; slab of black Belgian marble. The stiles of the cabinet are inlaid with roundels showing crossed L's under crowns

A low cabinet with a single, glass-paned door and a slab of black marble. The cabinet is of reverse breakfront form, with outset stiles on either side of the single door. This shaping is reflected in the form of the plinth, frieze and marble slab. The cabinet is of oak, veneered with ebonized wood, set with boulle marquetry, and lacquered brass mounts.
The plinth is raised on shallow feet, wooden blocks at the back and of lacquered brass at the front, each of these composed of a sphered knop below an open roundel of acanthus leaves. The outer corners of the plinth are concave, the top and bottom edges of the whole plinth set with formal mouldings in lacquered brass. The sides, the fronts of the outset sections and the centre of the front are set with marquetry panels of boulle marquetry on a brass ground, the tortoiseshell elements set against a red ground, and with details in stained ivory and horn set against coloured grounds. On either side of the central panel, the plinth is set with a lacquered brass mount in the form of a portrait human head, femal to the left and male to the right, both with hairstyles indicative of a nineteenth-century date.
The front faces of the styles above the plinth are set with lacquered brass mounts. On the lower edge are scrolled mounts with faces of a satyr (on the left stile) and a nymph (on the right). Just above this, on both stiles, is an inlaid roundel with brass marquetry in a ground of tortoiseshell set against a red background, depicting crossed L's beneath a closed crown. Above these roundels each stile is set with a long mount in the form of a term figures with feathered skirts and plumed headdresses (female to the left, male to the right).
The door in the centre open with hinges to the right. The frame is veneered all over with boulle marquetry on a brass ground, the sight edge of the central glass panel set with a lacquered brass moulding of upright acanthus. The glass panel is lined with a panel of pleated red silk, edged with gimp.
The sides on the main section of the cabinet are in ebonised wood, double-strung in brass, set at the corners with spandrel mounts of foliage in lacquered brass and with a central mask of lacquered brass, with wings to either side of the head.
The frieze of the cabinet is set with panels of boulle marquetry on the sides, the front faces of the outset sections above the stiles, and right across the central section of the cabinet. A guilloche moulding in lacquered brass runs right round the base of the frieze section and above the frieze panels is set a lacquered brass moulding showing egg and dart.
The slab of black Belgian marble is cut without mouldings, but is shapes conforms to that of the cabinets.
The interior of the cabinet shows the oak carcase, varnished. The sides are fitted with strips of woods cut with ratchets, to allow the single shelf to be adjusted in height. The shelf is veneered on the front edge with ebony and brass stringing. The inside of the door is veneered in purplewood, mitred at the corners and with ebony edge veneers. The interior shows bolts which fix the sides, top and base of the cabinet together.

Given by James Tabor

This cabinet was originally acquired as one of a pair but the second was was disposed of in 1947 (RP 47/1018)

Historical significance: Lady Waldegrave inherited Strawberry Hill in the 19th century and built a large new wing.

Said to have belonged to Lady Waldegrave and to have come from Strawberry Hill. Said to have been purchased from the sale of her 'Essex property' [Dudbrook] in 'about 1900'

Although acquired as French, this cabinet may well have been made in a German city such as Munich or Berlin

This cabinet was originally one of a pair. The marquetry decorating the surface is of , brass, tortoiseshell, ivory, horn and mother-of-pearl. It imitates the kind of marquetry made famous in France in the 1690's by André Charles Boulle, cabinet-maker to King Louis XIV. Such marquetry became highly fashionable again in the second half of the nineteenth century and was often copied, not only in France but also in most other European countries. This cabinet and its pair were acquired by the Museum as French but the highly ornate mounts are more typical of German pieces made in the boulle style. The roundels on either side of the door are inlaid with crossed L's, surmounted by a crown. This cypher was often used by Louis XIV, but was also frequently copied in the nineteenth century. The two lacquered brass heads on the front of the plinth are very unusual because they seem to show a man and a woman with nineteenth-century hairstyles, whereas every other mounts, shows figures in the style of the seventeenth century, representing generalised or mythical figures.

On loan to Cliffe Castle Museum.

W.113:1-1924