An exceptional George II mahogany display cabinet in the manner of William Kent; the cornice carved with running leaf and bead and reel mouldings above a pair of glazed doors which are crossbanded in mahogany and carved with egg and dart mouldings and are flanked by boldly carved corbels with projecting acanthus leaves. The base is exuberantly carved to the frieze with a central lion mask flanked by acanthus leaves and is raised on powerful cabriole legs which are boldly carved to the knee with acanthus and terminate in generous lion paw feet. The cabinet is constructed from the finest Cuban mahogany and retains a lovely untouched colour and patination.Circa:1745This superb early Georgian display cabinet exemplifies not only the incredible skill of the cabinet-maker but the fascination among wealthy patrons with a ''Roman'' style inspired by the classicism of the antique and the drama of the Baroque. The cabinet is a great example of this period with the austere classicism of the upper cabinet contrasting with the boldness and quality of the carving to the stand with its powerful cabriole legs and the wonderful lion mask to the centre of the frieze.The taste for ''Roman'' style furniture was popularised by Inigo Jones (1685-1748) and then William Kent (1685-1748). Both Jones and Kent were architect designers who spent time on the Grand Tour and a collection of their designs was published by John Vardy as Some Designs of Mr Inigo Jones and Mr Wm Kent in 1744. The cabinet borrows a series of motifs from these designs but most strikingly Kent''s design for a table commissioned by Robert Walpole for Houghton Hall, plate 41, can clearly be seen as inspiration for the cabinet''s base.A group of cabinet-makers in Early Georgian London could be ascribed as authors of this cabinet among them Vile, Bradshaw and Goodison but the most likely is William Hallett (d.1781). Hallett established his business at Great Newport Street, Long Acre in 1730 and became the pr...