This is an impressive antique Victorian Sheraton Revival flame mahogany, satinwood and boxwood breakfront wardrobe, by Marsh Jones Cribb & Co, of Leeds and Cavendish Square London, Circa 1880 in date.
The wardrobe features a highly decorative triple cornice featuring an arched fan medallion pediment with an urn finial above a key and lancet moulded frieze with swag marquetry decoration.
The pair of central inlaid doors enclosing hanging space, the lower part with line inlay over a pair of short drawers and two long drawers. They are flanked by side cabinets with matching inlay and interiors with further hanging space and dummy drawers. The wardrobe is raised on a plinth base.
One drawer is stamped
MARSH, JONES, CRIBB & CO/ FURNISHERS
and the wardrobe bears a paper trade label to the reverse with item no. 11950 and workman ‘Nielsen’
It comes complete with working locks and keys.
It is a truly beautiful and spacious wardrobe.
...
Provenance:
Scottish Country House.
Condition:
In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 276 cm x Width 257 cm x Depth 64 cm
Dimensions in inches:
Height 9 feet, 1 inch x Width 8 foot, 5 inches x Depth 2 feet, 1 inch
Marsh, Jones & Cribb
were renowned antique furniture cabinet makers in the Victorian era. They were known for their quality craftsmanship from Gothic to simple Arts & Crafts designs. They began as cabinet makers, ca. 1850 in Leeds as Marsh & Jones of Leeds. They later expanded to Cavendish Square, London when the well known cabinetmaker of Soho, London, Henry Humphries Cribb sent his son to serve his apprenticeship with Marsh and Jones. After he had finished his apprenticeship in 1867 he was offered a partnership in the company leading to the new and well known name Marsh, Jones & Cribb.
They made antique furniture by well known designers such as Charles Bevan and Talbert and many of these pieces were in famous exhibitions.
Their earlier examples were mostly known for their Gothic appeal with Charles Bevan helping with these designs. The most sought after designs today by Marsh, Jones & Cribb are from the Late Victorian era in the Arts & Crafts design with W.R. Lethaby who was their senior designer.
The interesting thing about Marsh, Jones & Cribb furniture is the paper labels used, with their makers stamp, cabinet makers name and signature with date, all hand written.
Flame Mahogany
Thomas Sheraton - 18th-century furniture designer, once characterized mahogany as ''best suited to furniture where strength is demanded as well as a wood that works up easily, has a beautiful figure and polishes so well that it is an ornament to any room in which it may be placed.'' Matching his words to his work, Sheraton designed much mahogany furniture. The qualities that impressed Sheraton are particularly evident in a distinctive pattern of wood called ''flame mahogany.''
The flame figure in the wood is revealed by slicing through the face of the branch at the point where it joins another element of the tree.
Satinwood
is a hard and durable wood with a satinlike 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 classifi
Internal Reference: A4096
Antique ID Number (AIDN): SA1095677
Dateline of this antique is 1880
Height is 276cm (108.7inches)Width is 257cm (101.2inches)Depth is 64cm (25.2inches)
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