Chippendale Period Architectural Cabinet

The crisply moulded cornice decorated with dentil mouldings and blind fretwork above a pair of doors with chicken wire grills; below is a fitted drawer with writing slope and a further 6 short drawers; raised on a plinth base. Veneered throughout in carefully selected fiddleback mahogany and retaining its original rococo swan neck handles.

The design of this cabinet is clearly influenced by two of the foremost designers of the mid Eighteenth Century. The overall design has been inspired by plate XXI of Ince and Mayhew's Universal System of Household Furniture (1762) which depicts a gentleman's repository cabinet. The blind fretwork decoration to the cornice is clearly inspired by details in Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker's Director (1754) and its rococo handles are identical to those found on a bookcase supplied by Chippendale to Dumfries House for the yellow bedroom.

This superb design has been enhanced by the cabinet-maker veneering the cabinet in well chosen fiddleback mahogany which gives life to the restrained classicism of the proportions. The cabinet-maker has also cleverly used a mitre action which allows the doors to overlap, keeping the central stile slim and elegant. This extra attention to detail shows this cabinet to be a highly refined piece of Eighteenth Century cabinet making.

Literature

The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker's Director (1754) T. Chippendale

The Universal System of Household Furniture (1762) W. Ince and J. Mayhew