A low cabinet with a single door, one of a pair, of plain rectangular form, veneered in rosewood, amaranth and other woods on oak, the central panel with marquetry of symmetrical scrolls, the panels on the sides with marquetry including the monogram 'SR', the borders of all panels set with plaques cut from old porcelain pieces. The slab of the cabinet is of cipollino marble.

A low cabinet with a single door, one of a pair, of plain rectangular form, veneered in rosewood, amaranth and other woods on oak, the central panel with marquety of symmetrical scrolls, the panels on the sides with marquetry including the monogram 'SR', the borders of all panels set with plaques cut from old porcelain pieces. The slab of the cabinet is of cipollino marble. The inset porcelain is framed in gilt brass. The interior of the cabinet is veneered in burr maple. The inside of the door is similarly veneered.

The Bettine, Lady Abingdon Collection. Bequeathed by Mrs T. R. P. Hole

One of a large number of pieces of French furniture, ceramics, metalwork, books and other decorative arts, from the Empire period and earlier, acquired in Paris by Charles Stuart (from 1828 1st Lord Stuart de Rothesay) (1779--1845). Most of the Empire furnishings were probably purchased during his first period as ambassador to Paris (1815--1824), and the earlier furnishings during his second embassy (1828--30). But the present cabinet and its pair were certainly made in the later period, as the monogram 'SR' executed in marquetry could not have been used before he was ennobled in 1828.

The cabinets are referred to in a letter to Stuart from his agent George Gunn (undated, but written in the summer of 1832), in which he writes: 'most of the little articles of value belonging to Lady Stuart at the Embassy were packed in the consoles inlaid wh porcelain wh Chipoline Marble tops' (National Library of Scotland: MS 21310, f. 79). On 30 December 1832 Gunn wrote again from Paris: 'I have not yet been able to get the Keys for Lady Stuart's Inlaid Consoles -- the Locksmiths here will not part the Keys from the Locks and I am obliged to send into the Country for them -- as they are not made in Paris' (National Library of Scotland: MS 21311, f. 125).

Clearly these were favourite pieces of Lord and Lady Stuart's, commissioned specifically to include the monogram. These and the other Empire furnishings may have been intended for a London house. Stuart acquired 4 Carlton House Terrace, where improvements were carried out from 1827 to 1831, and he moved in in 1834. Older furnishings were more probably purchased for his country house, Highcliffe Castle, Hampshire (now Dorset), which was remodelled and enlarged in the most ambitious Gothic style from 1830 to 1834, with some work continuing throughout the 1830s. In 1841 the house in Carlton House Terrace was let, and the family moved their London residence to Whitehall Yard. It was possibly at that time -- or in 1845, the date of Lord Stuart de Rothesay's death -- that the Empire furnishings were moved to Highcliffe.

Lord Stuart de Rothesay's collections were inherited in 1867 by his younger daughter Louisa, Lady Waterford (1818--1891), who maintained Highcliffe Castle. She left the house and its collections to her distant cousin Major-General Edward Stuart Wortley (1857--1934). When his younger daughter Elizabeth ('Bettine') married Montagu Bertie, 8th Earl of Abingdon, in 1928, he bought the castle and its contents from his father-in-law. The Abingdons sold Highcliffe and most of its contents in 1949, but retained the furniture now forming the Hole Bequest and some other pieces. The present pair of cabinets were in fact included in the sale (Christie's, Highcliffe Castle sale, 5--7 June 1949, lot 89), but bought in. At the time of the sale they were in the Ante-Room to the Library, but Lord Abingdon's annotations in his own copy of the catalogue record that they were originally in the Blue Bedroom.

After her husband's death in 1963, Lady Abingdon lived for much of the time with her close friends Mr and Mrs Tahu Hole, to whom she bequeathed all her personal possessions on her death in 1978. Tahu Hole died in 1985, and a year later his widow Joyce approached the Museum and offered the collection as a bequest. She died in December 1986, and in accordance with her will the Museum chose those items that it wished to add to its collections. Other items from the collection were sold to benefit the Museum, and the proceeds added to the funds bequeathed.

Historical significance: In Britain the practice of mounting cabinets with porcelain became very common in the 1830s, particularly in the work of brokers and cabinet-makers such as Edward Holmes-Baldock (1777--1845), who specialized in supplying 'new and improved' versions of 18th-century French porcelain-mounted furniture. (See Geoffrey de Bellaigue, 'Edward Holmes Baldock', I and II, Connoisseur, Vol. 189 (1975), pp. 290--99; Vol. 190 (1975), pp. 18--25.) The present pair -- which just antedate this fashion in Britain -- are of interest because of the fragmentary nature of the small pieces of porcelain used in place of the more usual specially made plaques (see Attributions Note). The plaques have been selected, in places balancing pairs with similar painting or palette, and the best-painted pieces have been chosen for the large octagonal plaques in the centre of the top and bottom edges of each cabinet.
The marquetry shows the strong light/dark contrast favoured in France in the 1820s. Although these cabinets were clearly a special commission, the quality of the cabinet-making is not of the best.

A mahogany games-table of the same date, with a similar cypher in light wood marquetry on the frieze and 'mounts' in a Restauration form but executed in marquetry, was sold at Sotheby's, 30 November 1984, lot 377.

While this cabinet and its pair can be dated by Lord Stuart's monogram very closely to the years 1828--31 (see Object History Note), no evidence has come to light to indicate who made them. The only reference to Stuart's dealings with any French cabinet-maker is the letter from the firm of Ringuet dated 19 January 1839, complaining of his outstanding debt of 2043 Fr. (see Medlam, op. cit. (References), p. 35). But although Ringuet are known to have worked for English clients, there is no evidence that these came from their workshops.

Most of the pieces of porcelain mounted in these cabinets appear to be from table ware in Paris porcelain of various dates from the 1780s to 1820s. Some appear to be small plaques specifically made for the purpose, but most are clearly cut from the edges of plates (showing the curvature of the original piece and sometimes the banding of colour at the edge) or hollow vessels. In one or two plaques the curvature is quite pronounced.

This cabinet and its pair form part of a group of furniture acquired in Paris by Lord Stuart de Rothesay, who served twice as British ambassador there (1815-1824 and 1828-1830). These are the only pieces in the group known to have been made specifically for Stuart: the sides are decorated with his monogram in marquetry - 'SR', for Stuart de Rothesay - so the cabinets must have been made in or after 1828, when he was given this title. The fashion for furniture mounted with porcelain, established in Paris in the 18th century, acquired new popularity in Britain in the 1830s. The present cabinets are most unusual, however, for their use of cut-up parts of plates and dishes - dating from roughly 1780 to 1830 - rather than specially made plaques. Only a few of the smaller plaques used here seem to have been purpose-made for the cabinets.

W.18A/1 to 3-1987