A sideboard veneered in mahogany, with inlay of other wood, raised on six tall, tapering legs, the body concave to the front, with two tambour-fronted doors flanking a deep drawer, with a drawer above each door.

A sideboard veneered in mahogany, with inlay of other wood, raised on six tall, tapering legs, the body concave to the front, with two tambour-fronted doors flanking a deep drawer, with a drawer above each door. The carcase is in softwoods and mahogany, with oak drawer linings.
Design
The sideboard is in three sections, the sides curving forwards, so that the whole piece is concave in overall shape, with the sides projecting approximately 15 cms beyond the central section. The tall, central drawer occupies the whole of the narrow, breakfront central section, flanked by cupboards with drawers over. The cupboard are fitted with tambour fronts (fronts composed of very narrow slats of wood, set vertically) that slide back into the body of the sideboard to either side. The central drawer is inlaid with a large circle of cross-banding in a redder hardwood (possibly bois satiné) between light-coloured stringing (box or sycamore). The drawer is edged with a light-coloured stringing, as are the side drawers, the edges of the top, the legs, and the base of the body, which has an additional stringing in ebony. The lower edge of each stile, and a shallow apron below the central drawer, are inlaid with eight-leaved flower heads (the petals alternately ebony and a light wood). On the stiles, above this flower head, is a panel outlined in stringing, with concave lower edges, reaching a point in the flower. The side drawer fronts show panels outlined in pale stringing, with Greek-key corners, leaving a space at the end of each drawer, which provides a field for the handles, which are in the form of cast-brass lions' heads, with large rings in their mouths. A similar handle, but with deeper relief, is in the centre of the central drawer.
Construction
The sideboard is of frame-and-panel construction, the sides and the back panel (which is of softwood) set flush with the frame. The back is composed of two softwood boards, running laterally. The vertical dividers that create the three compartments of the sideboard, are also of softwood, tenoned through the back of the piece, with four visible tenons. It is likely that the top and bottom of the these run in recesses cut in the the top and bottom of the carcase. The back panel is attached to the top with five large screws, running diagonally within recesses but in the panel, up into the top. The base of the carcase is in three sections, the thin baseboards running in grooves cut in the sides and the vertical dividers, and in the broad, shaped front rail. The fronts of the drawers are in solid mahogany, the sides, backs and bases lined in oak (except that the back of the large, central drawer is in softwood). The grain of the bases runs laterally. The drawers are dovetailed, and with the bases running in grooves in the sides and front, and pinned up to the back boards. On the two side drawers, the front faces of the side apparently form part of the outer stiles, and the stringing of the stiles runs across the front face of the drawers. The brass handles are attached with screws that locate with square nuts that are not countersunk.
Condition
The sideboard is generally in good condition, with small losses of veneer or stringing, but there is evidence of old woodworm in the base of the left-hand (PR) drawer.

Bequeathed by Lady B. R. F. Henriques

Bequeathed by Lady B R F Henriques, the acquisition recorded in Registered File 53/986 (on Nominal File MA/1/H1634). The sideboard came from Normandy Park, near Guildford, Surrey, where Lady Henriques had a collection of furniture made between 1790 and 1820, including a number of pieces in satinwood. She was the widow of Sir Philip Gutterez Henriques (1867-1950), a barrister and civil servant. Their only son, Philip, was killed in action in 1815, and from 1930, Lady Henriques had been seeking to make bequests to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and the V&A of pieces from her collection.

By 1800, sideboards were being made without the matching pair of pedestals supporting urns, which had been the general form of sideboards from the 1770s. It is difficult to be certain whether pedestals were supplied with this sideboard but the concave shape of the sideboard strongly suggests that it was made for a deep recess in a dining-room, possibly with a curving ceiling, forming an apse, within which the sideboard would sit. If its original place was in such a recess, any pedestals would have to have sat against the flanking walls of the apse. The sideboard is well made, with tambour-fronts to the doors, that is, with doors made of thin, vertical slats of wood, which allows the doors to slide backwards to one side, into the carcase of the sideboard. The brass lion-head handles look almost too big for the piece but appear to be original. Those on the drawers sit to either side of the marquetry decoration, in a blank space that would have demanded some other form of ornament if they were not there.

In 1968 this was on long loan to the National Trust at Derrymore, Northern Ireland.

On loan to National Trust Castle Ward.

W.2-1954