Anglo-Japanese Ebonised Coromandel Side Cabinet, by Lamb Co. of Manchester

Lamb of Manchester, an Aesthetic Movement ebonised and coromandel side cabinet, with a bevelled mirrored and shelved back, a glazed base with a spindle galleried undershelf, stamped ...

Aesthetic Movement Cabinet Designed by T. E. Collcutt and Made by Collinson & Lock, London Collcutt designed a number of these cabinets for Collinson & Lock. The first example of thi...

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...

Handsome 19th century Chinese cabinet, open shelf above pair of doors flanked by four drawers. Lovely old worn ebonized lacquer finish.