Cabinet thumbnail 1
Cabinet thumbnail 2
Not on display

This object consists of 19 parts, some of which may be located elsewhere.

Cabinet

ca. 1899 (made)
Artist/Maker
Morris & Co. (cabinet-maker)
Benson, William Arthur Smith (designer)
Place of origin
London (made)

Rosewood cabinet, inlaid with various woods, with metal mounts.

Object details

Category
Furniture
Object type
Cabinet
Parts
This object consists of 19 parts.

  • Cabinet
  • Shelf
  • Shelf
  • Shelf
  • Shelf
  • Shelf
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Cabinet
  • Shelf
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Keys
Materials and techniques
Rosewood
Purplewood
Tulip-Wood
Ebony
Metal
Inlay (Process)
Brief description
Cabinet, ca. 1899, London. Designed by W. A. Benson, made by Morris & Co.
Physical description
Rosewood cabinet, inlaid with various woods, with metal mounts.
Dimensions
  • Height: 110.5cm (Note: Measurement converted from department files)
  • Width: 114.3cm (Note: Measurement converted from department files)
Gallery label
(1993)
Benson is best known for his designs in copper and brass, several examples of which are on show nearby. In the 1890s he also designed a number of pieces of furniture for Morris & Co., which are illustrated in their catalogues, and became chairman of the firm after the death of William Morris in 1896.
Object history
Between 1968 and 1971 this cabinet was on display in the Green Dining Room, originally decorated by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. in 1866.

This cabinet is of a pattern illustrated in a Morris & Co. catalogue of about 1512 (Morris & Co., Specimens of Furniture. Upholstery and Interior Decoration, London, n.d. (?1912), p. 22, No. 147) and priced at that date at 90 guineas
Bibliographic reference
Elizabeth Aslin, Nineteenth Century English Furniture (London, Faber, 1962), plate 118.
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
CIRC.19:1 to 8-1959 and W.39:1 to 11-1970

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Record createdJuly 7, 1998
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O8239/cabinet-benson-william-arthur/
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