Antique English Victorian Satinwood Hand Painted Wardrobe, 19th Century

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Antique English Victorian Satinwood Hand Painted Wardrobe, 19th Century

About the Item

This is an impressive and rare antique English late Victorian Sheraton style satinwood wardrobe, circa 1880 in date. This wonderful wardrobe is made from the finest quality satinwood and features magnificent hand painted ribbon-tied garlands, palmettes, swags, and musical trophies, all in the manner of Angelica Kauffman, making it a true piece of artwork. Superbly executed in warm and cosy color palettes - pink, green, red and white - these hand painted decorations convey a sense of grace, elegance and finesse. The straight moulded cornice stands above a moulded panel door which opens to reveal a roomy hanging space above a useful spacious laundry cupboard in the base. It is raised on an elegant and sumptuous plinth base, and is complete with its original handle, working lock and key. It is a truly rare and beautiful wardrobe which is also very capacious. Condition: In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 211 x width 84 x depth 60 Dimensions in inches: Height 83.1 x width 33.1 x depth 23.6 Satinwood is a hard and durable wood with a satin like sheen, much used in cabinetmaking, especially in marquetry. It comes from two tropical trees of the family Rutaceae (rue family). East Indian or Ceylon satinwood is the yellowish or dark-brown heartwood of Chloroxylon swietenia. The lustrous, fine-grained, usually figured wood is used for furniture, cabinetwork, veneers, and backs of brushes. West Indian satinwood, sometimes called yellow wood, is considered superior. It is the golden yellow, lustrous, even-grained wood found in the Florida Keys and the West Indies. It has long been valued for furniture. It is also used for musical instruments, veneers, and other purposes. Satinwood is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Sapindales, family Rutaceae.e. Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) was an English cabinetmaker and one of the leading exponents of Neoclassicism. Sheraton gave his name to a style of furniture characterized by a feminine refinement of late Georgian styles and became the most powerful source of inspiration behind the furniture of the late 18th century. His four-part cabinet-maker and upholsterers drawing book greatly influenced English and American design. Sheraton was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker, but he became better known as an inventor, artist, mystic, and religious controversialist. Initially he wrote on theological subjects, describing himself as a “mechanic, one who never had the advantage of collegiate or academical education.” He settled in London circa 1790, and his trade card gave his address as Wardour Street, Soho. Supporting himself mainly as an author, Sheraton wrote Drawing Book (1791), the first part of which is devoted to somewhat naive, verbose dissertations on perspective, architecture, and geometry and the second part, on which his reputation is certainly based, is filled with plates that are admirable in draftsmanship, form, and proportion. In 1803 Sheraton, who had been ordained a Baptist minister in 1800, published his Cabinet Dictionary (with plates), containing An Explanation of all terms used in the cabinet, chair and upholstery branches with dictionary for varnishing, polishing and gilding. Some of the designs in this work, venturing well into the Regency style, are markedly unconventional. That he was a fashionable cabinetmaker is remarkable, for he was poor, his home of necessity half shop. It cannot be presumed that he was the maker of those examples even closely resembling his plates. Although Sheraton undoubtedly borrowed from other cabinetmakers, most of the plates in his early publications are supposedly his own designs. The term Sheraton has been recklessly bestowed upon vast quantities of late 18th-century painted and inlaid satinwood furniture, but, properly understood and used in a generic sense, Sheraton is an appropriate label recognizing a mastermind behind the period. The opinion that his lack of success was caused by his assertive character is hypothetical. Angelica Kauffman, RA (1741-1807) was a Swiss-born Austrian Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Though born as "Kauffmann", Kauffman is the preferred spelling of her name in English; it is the form she herself used most in signing her correspondence, documents and paintings. While Kauffman produced many types of art, she identified herself primarily as a history painter, an unusual designation for a woman artist in the 18th century. History painting, was considered the most elite and lucrative category in academic painting during this time period. Under the direction of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Royal Academy made a strong effort to promote history painting to a native audience who were more interested in commissioning and buying portraits and landscapes. Despite the popularity that Kauffman enjoyed in British society and her success as an artist, she was disappointed by the relative apathy that the British had towards history painting. Ultimately she left Britain for the continent, where history painting was better established, held in higher esteem and patronized. The works of Angelica Kauffman have retained their reputation. By 1911, rooms decorated with her work were still to be seen in various quarters. At Hampton Court was a portrait of the duchess of Brunswick; in the National Portrait Gallery, a self-portrait. There were other pictures by her at Paris, at Dresden, in the Hermitage at St Petersburg, in the Alte Pinakothek at Munich, in Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn (Estonia).

Dimensions:
Height: 83.08 in (211 cm)Width: 33.08 in (84 cm)Depth: 23.63 in (60 cm)
Style:
Sheraton (In the Style Of)
Materials and Techniques:
Satinwood,Hand-Painted
Place of Origin:
England
Period:
1880-1889
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1880
Condition:
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: 097891stDibs: LU950616508322