Tarquin Bilgen Antiques Cabinets

England, circa 1760. A fine mid-eighteenth century Japanned lacquer cabinet, with two doors revealing an interior fitted with eleven drawers with ring handles, all decorated with naturalistic scenes including fishermen and rural life. Retaining the original mid-eighteenth century stand, also with comparable chinoiserie decoration and X form stretcher with central pierced quatrefoil. Height 161.00 centimetres. Width 98.00 centimetres. Depth 51.00 centimetres. The art of 18th-century Japanning was a European practise that sought to imitate Japanese lacquerware and became a method of emulating the aesthetics of East Asia within the home. The term originates from the late 17th century as the opening of trade routes in the East triggered an interest in Chinese and Japanese fashions in Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands. It’s popularity reflected this era of imperial ambition when the West was fascinated by the exoticism of the East and saw the rise of an orientalist attitude. During this time, Europe’s demand for lacquerware began to grow and The East India Company's importation of lacquered objects and screens created a desire for larger, more practical items with similar decorative finishes. To replicate the appearance of oriental lacquerwork, European cabinet-makers turned to John Stalker and George Parker's 1688 ‘A Treatise of Japaning and Varnishing: Being a Compleat Discovery of Those Arts’. This book contained formulas for creating and applying lacquers as well as various chinoiserie illustrations for readers to copy and modify, having made a concerted effort to reference designs on Chinese porcelain and textiles. European japanning differed from traditional East Asian lacquer work which used sap from the Toxicodendron vernicifluum tree (also known as the Chinese lacquer tree...

Germany, circa 1600 and later A rare late sixteenth century South German Augsberg cabinet comprising of eleven drawers surrounding a central tabernacle fitted with a further bank of secret drawers hidden behind a drop down slide to the left. The façades decorated with elaborate stained marquetry depicting hunting scenes, various dogs, a lion and unicorn. The cabinet has later been adapted by an English collector in the early eighteenth century, fitted with figured walnut crossbanded double doors to reveal the marquetry interior, and mounted upon a walnut chest of drawers with ring pull...

England, circa 1820 A fine early 19th century cabinet, with finely figured timber, with yellow silk panels with brass grills to the front, the interior with single shelf. Height ...

France, circa 1890 A fine pair of late nineteenth century flame mahogany cabinets with six equal drawers, original brass handles and escutcheons, surmounted by black marble tops. ...