Cabinets

A rare Chinese polychrome Coromandel or ‘Bantam Ware’ lacquer casket or table cabinet, Kangxi period (1661-1722). Circa 1700. This fine small Chinese export lacquer fitted casket is decorated overall with polychrome incised decoration. Opening with two doors revealing a red interior with fitted drawers and a hinged rising top. In superb, almost entirely original condition, retaining its vivid colours and fine details with courtiers in a pavilion and on horseback amidst foliage and formal palace gardens. The small bun-type feet are historical replacements. Interestingly bearing an antique-script inventory #25 and A I on the base. Nb. Bantamwork or Coromandel lacquer, not to be confused with ‘japanning’, is the term applied to decoration that is cut into a layer of gesso and then lacquered in colours. Much of the lacquer was transhipped from China through Coromandel in India, or the Dutch colony Batavia, Java. References: Coromandel lacquer or ‘Bantamwork’, with its characteristic incised decoration, was made in Henan province in northern China from the latter part of the Ming dynasty and exported to Europe from the end of the 17th century through the East India Company’s and VOC trading posts on the Coromandel coast of India. The technique consisted in overlaying a base of wood with a series of increasingly fine white clays and fibrous grasses. Over this surface, lacquer was applied and polished before the design was incised and the hollowed out portions filled with colour and gilt and finished with a clear lacquer to protect it. Although John Stalker and George Parker used the term ‘Bantamwork’, the contemporary layman usually called it ‘cutt-work’, ‘cutt Japan’ or ‘hollow burnt Japan’. Stalker and Parker discuss two types of ‘Bantam-work’ – flat and incised – in their Treatise on Japanning and Varnishing of 1688, noting that it ‘was done in colorus mix’t with a gum water’. They also considered that it was ‘almost obsolete, and out of fashion, out of use and neglected….’ although admitted that ‘it was very pretty, and some are more fond of it, and prefer it to the other…’. This casket/ table cabinet now on offer is related to one formerly with Malletts and illustrated in A. Bowett, 'English Furniture 1660-1714: From Charles II to Queen Anne', Woodbridge, 2002, p. 150, plates 5:9. A much larger closely-related Bantam work coffer with rising lid was offered in the ‘Asian Art in Cologne’ sale lot 114 on 11th December 2021. Estimated @ £60,000 – £79,000. Mme de Pompadour, mistress to King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, was an avid collector and admirer of Chinese Coromandel or Bantam work and was probably largely responsible for the very high prices recorded for such pieces, sometimes 10 times or more the price of ordinary furniture of equivalent quality. A Coromandel cabinet...

A large, antique single-door safe or cassa forte made of hand crafted iron with rivets and bands on the surface and palmettes and rocaille decorations on the front, in good condition...

George III green-lacquered hanging bowfront corner cabinet. 4th quarter 18th century. Fitted with two cupboard doors, each with elabora...

This is a beautiful wall-hanging cabinet that was made in Germany in the late 18th century. It was completely made in solid European oak and stained almost black. The cabinet has its...

A French early 17th century large scale period Louis XIII walnut armoire with two doors over two drawers, geometric décor and original hardware. With this piece, we are in the middle...

A very handsome Baroque-style cabinet was made in Germany at the end of the 18th century. It has a detachable base with a drawer over bun feet. Above sits a compartment with two paneled doors flanked by barely twisted...

A rare chinoiserie standing double corner cabinet, or cupboard. English, George I period, ca 1720. Often erroneously referred to as lacquer work, this is in fact japanned. Beautifully decorated with idyllic scenes of rockwork, pagodas, people, trees, birds, water, with bridges and a boat. This is a lovely and very useful addition to a room - where corners can present furnishing dilemmas - and this is an ideal antique drinks cabinet. These have always been very hard to find, as opposed to the more usual Georgian hanging corner cupboards...

18th century exquisite Louis XV panetiere Originally used to store French baguettes or long loaves of bread, panetieres were meant to sit on a petrin (dough chest...

A monumental 18th century black lacquer and cinnabar embellished cabinet. Brass and steel hardware with three drawers at the base. Fitted wide interior shelves.

A French late 18th century Louis XV style cherry two-part vaisselier with original hardware and open shelves over two drawers and two doors. This French buffet à deux-corps features a bonnet-shaped pediment carved with delicate foliage motifs, sitting above an open-shelved upper cabinet. The deep shelves (12 inches) are made of baluster-adorned rails, creating the perfect setting to display beautiful serveware. The lower section comprises two thin drawers, decorated with flower backplated hardware, above two carved doors with shaped recessed panels. This set of double doors opens to reveal two inner shelves. The ensemble is raised on scrolled feet in the front, connected to one another with a beautifully scalloped skirt, carved with a delicate foliage motif in its center. The fluted side posts, echoed on the central beam separating the double doors, are reminiscent of the taste of the Louis XVI era for such motifs. With its clean lines, subtly balanced by the gentle curves of the pediment, skirt and legs, and warm patina of the cherry wood, this French 1790s...

18th century cabinet made from oakwood. Interior shelves are old but not original. Originates Germany, dating circa 1750.

A handsome English panel carved coffer or chest (trunk) of oak from the Jacobean period (King James II), featuring an iron-hinged, panel top, mounted t...

This cabinet is one of a small group that were made in the 1620s as taste and fashion veered towards the use of a paesina stone with its characteristic evocative veining which exhibi...

An 18th century Anglo-Indian hardwood multi drawer small apothecary or spice cabinet.

A George III chinoiserie cabinet on stand made using panels of 17th century Japanese lacquer and formed in the traditional manner. Standing on its original...

English Chippendale mahogany breakfront with carved molded cornice, four upper case glass doors with arched oval mullions, adjustable interior shelving, lower case concealing a slidi...

This cabinet was made in Flanders in the mid-17th century as a prestigious item for an affluent member of the professional classes. The significant amount of tortoishell employed dem...

The essence of traditional Chinese furniture is fully expressed in the simplicity and graceful presence of this 18th century two-door cabinet. Crafted of southern elmwood with tradit...

Baroque style is characterized by exaggeration of movement and decoration giving dramatic effect. This German Baroque cabinet has canted corners, a stepped pediment above two arched glass inset doors...

Walnut with verde antico marble inlay, with two wholly carved draped female allegorical figures within arched recesses, and a bas-relief on the central door. Rich and heavily carved...

A one of a kind late 18th century Chinese, Qing dynasty black lacquer one door, one drawer tall tea table that has beautifully carved designs in the shelving area just above the draw...

With old finish. Rectangular top with molded edge over a frieze with mounted corbels and a false drawer over a pair of cabinet doors with original handles all flanked by mask and flo...

18th century Serpentine two-door cabinet.

18th century cabinet made from oakwood. Originates Germany, Nienburg, dating circa 1750.

English Renaissance-style (18/19th Century) walnut hutch cabinet with 2 shelves under a carved pediment top with 2 drawers over 2 diamond carved doors on ...

French Provincial walnut cupboard with arched dome cornice, flanking upper case glass doors with adjustable interior shelving, lower case flanking doors on the original brass hinges,...

Exceptional Augsburg cabinet, Germany, 17th century with precise marquetry of birds and animals diiferent kind of woods.  

English corner cabinet, made circa 1780, in lacquered gilt chinoisoire. Stunningly beautiful lacquered gilt chinoisoire on a black ground. Bracket feet to the base. 13 pane astrical ...

Decorative mid-size credenza / cabinet with nice patina. The front withcarved decoration, two small drawers over paneled doors.

The rectangular mirror plate with cusped top corners within a conforming incised gilt surround and molded hinged wood frame set between two square spreading supports surmounted by fl...

A large size late 17th, early 18th century Swedish period Baroque cabinet of ebonized rosewood. This exquisite Swedish cabinet most likely features a depiction of the Virtue prudence at the crest. This rosewood cabinet is made of two doors with raised geometrical pattern, revealing multiple inner shelves when opened, over two nice sized dovetailed drawers. This period Baroque Swedish cabinet from circa 1690-1730 is raised on oversized ball...

Impressive Dutch "Kussenkast" cabinet, very contemporary in its simplicity, made of oak, veneer and ebony. Large cornice. Lion head decor. Keyhole concealed behind a central slidin...

A handsome early Georgian mahogany bureau bookcase with pedimented top; the bookcase section with fielded panel doors and candle slides, the b...

An Italian Walnut & Veneer Credenza 18thcentury & later The rectangular moulded top above two short panelled drawers with knob handles, and a pair of doors with rosette-car...

18th Century Walnut Tuscan Credenza with original Brasses- Soho Location 212-966-0650

From Provence