Cabinet of ebonised and painted wood; designed by T.E. Collcutt and made by Collinson and Lock for the International Exhibition, London 1871.

The cabinet has a ebonised finish with coloured, painted decoration. It is made in two sections, a superstructure and a base. The superstructure has a central section with a raised and moulded cornice surmounted by a parapet with pierced trefoils, decorated with floral motifs, over a panel painted with three square arabesque motifs between upright bands of foliage. Below this panel is a recess, with a curved back divided by vertical ebony mouldings, above a cupboard with a pair of doors, each door with metal strap hinges, lock and shaped handle. The doors are each mounted with a pair of panels, painted with female figures in classical dress, the panels separated and framed by ebonised mouldings painted with floral motifs. Below this cupboard is a mirrored recess. This whole central section is separated from the curved side sections by a pair of square section and turned painted uprights with finials. The side sections have the same moulded and pierced cornice, at a lower level, but the cornice, which has turned finials at the extreme left and right hand end, is curved in plan, as are the two shelves below on each side section. Behind both of the top shelves is a painted arch with two columns on a moulded base and behind the lower shelves is a solid back painted with an arabesque design. The visible exterior sides of the central section are cut away and painted to mirror the decoration on these back panels.

The base of the cabinet has a flat top, with a moulded and painted edge, and below this is a central cupboard with corner shelf units on either side. At each front corner is a turned support terminating in a square base on the lower shelf, at the same level as the bottom of the cupboard. The cupboard has two doors, each with metal strap hinges, lock and shaped handle, and each mounted with six painted panels, a pair showing female figures in classical dress in the top row and two rows below, each with a pair of panels of birds. The panels are separated and framed by the same ebonised and painted moulding as used for the panels in the superstructure. Vertical painted mouldings separate the cupboard from the corner shelf units and run along the front of the shelves. The corner shelf units, open at the front and side of the cabinet, have solid backs painted with the same arabesque design as used on the superstructure. Visible from each side behind these shelf units is a section of three drawers with metal handles above a cupboard with a panelled door and shaped metal handle. There are four turned legs at the front, two at the corners and two below the vertical mouldings framing the cupboard doors. Another pair of turned legs are at the two back corners with a vertical panel between them and there is a lower shelf fitted between the front and back legs.

Given by H. M. Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851

This cabinet was made by Collinson & Lock for display at the London International Exhibition of 1871 and listed in the Official Catalogue, p. 153, Class II, No. 3053. Praised in reviews of the Exhibition both for its design and for its decoration, the cabinet was bought by the Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition for loan to the South Kensington Museum, as the Victoria and Albert Museum was then called. As an example of modern design and manufacture the cabinet was displayed at the Bethnal Green Museum from 1872 with other examples of furniture as inspiration for the local furniture-making trades. It remained on display there and in 1921 the Commissioners agreed to convert their loan into a gift.

The Art Journal Catalogue of the International Exhibition, 1871, page 22, refers to the painter as 'Woolridge'. The cabinet is illustrated on plate CXXXVI of Art Industry Furniture, Upholstery, and House-Decoration, London, c. 1876, by G.W. Yapp, and his caption attributes the design of the woodwork to 'Mr. Calcott', presumably Collcutt, and the decoration to 'Mr. Woolridge'.This may be Harry Ellis Woolridge (1845-1917) who painted the reredos of St Martin's Church, Brighton, in 1878.

Two other versions of this cabinet were exhibited by Collinson & Lock at international exhibitions, the first at Vienna in 1873. This version, which had an upper panel painted by Edward Burne-Jones, was bought by the Prince of Lichstenstein who gave it to the Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, in 1881. The second version, which was painted by Charles Fairfax Murray with the four figures of the evangelists on the upper doors, was exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876.

International exhibitions offered designers and makers the opportunity to show examples of their products in large and elaborate temporary displays instead of in normal commercial premises. Both the exhibition stands and their contents were deliberately designed to impress visitors and to attract potential buyers. This cabinet, with its complicated form and elaborate decoration, is typical of exhibition furniture and was displayed by the maker, Collinson & Lock, at the International Exhibition held in London in 1871. Collinson & Lock specialised in 'art' furniture, the commercial name given to furniture in the Aesthetic style. The cabinet, with its combination of architectural details, ebonised finish and classical decoration, is an example of this fashionable style. The purchase of the cabinet for loan to this Museum in 1871 may have encouraged Collinson & Lock to display two other versions at international exhibitions, the first in Vienna in 1873 and the second in Philadelphia in 1876.

MISC.127:1-9-1921