Not currently on display at the V&A

Cabinet

1872 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Cabinet, ebonised and gilt wood, with shelf in the upper part, cupboard with falling front in the centre, and the lower part open. It is inlaid with stoneware plaques, incised with birds, animals and flowers.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Cabinet
  • Key
Materials and techniques
Ebonised and gilt wood, carved and turned; incised stoneware
Brief description
Cabinet, ebonised and gilt wood with Stoneware plaques; designed by Charles Bevan and made by Gillows for Messrs. Doulton & Co.; London, 1872
Physical description
Cabinet, ebonised and gilt wood, with shelf in the upper part, cupboard with falling front in the centre, and the lower part open. It is inlaid with stoneware plaques, incised with birds, animals and flowers.
Dimensions
  • Height: 136cm
  • Width: 93cm
  • Depth: 45cm
Measurements taken from paper catalogue - not checked on object.
Style
Object history
Purchased by the V&A in 1872 for £30 from the Annual International Exhibition, London.

The Account of the Exhibition, attached to the Programme of the Official Reception, states that Messrs. Doulton, of Lambeth, exhibit a novelty in two black cabinets, tastefully decorated by plaques, of their successful and artistic stoneware'.

The official guide to the exhibition referred to one as 'fine art elevating coarse material'.

This cabinet was loaned to Leighton House in 1969.
Historical context
This cabinet was displayed by Doulton & Co. at the Internation Exhibition of 1872, primarily as a vehicle for the stoneware with which it was inlaid.

It is perhaps significant that in early 1872 a committee of the Staffordshire Potteries decided to present to John Bright MP, a radical Liberal statesman, a handsome ebony cabinet containing a collection of the choicest art pottery from the workshops of Messrs. Minton & Co., Messrs. Copeland & Sons, and Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons.
Subjects depicted
Association
Bibliographic references
  • p.26 London 1872 Exhibition, Programme of Official Reception and Account, (London, 1872)
  • p.28 London 1872 Exhibition, Official Guide, (London, 1872)
Collection
Accession number
411:1, 2-1872

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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