Important 19th Century Regency Period Japanned Side Cabinet

A Very Fine and Important Regency Period Japanned Papier Mache Secretaire Side Cabinet or Chiffonier.

The cabinet veneered throughout with panels of japanned papier mache and penwork, the themes either chinoiserie or, on the internal drawer fronts and insides of the cupboard doors, floral in nature. Highly unusually, this piece incorporates a drop-down secretaire or writing drawer with inset leather and a series of small drawers and pigeon holes. Another intriguing piece of design is the sloping original mirror plate in the top section, underneath the top self, which reflects the detail below, giving the illusion of decoration on the back, we have not seen the likes of this before. In the lower cupboard section there are several larger drawers and two intriguing mirror backed compartments, probably intended for displaying small pieces of Chinese porcelain or the like. The japanning is of exceptional quality with a range of high and low relief sections, different colours and pigments and a wide variety of different subjects used. The decoration also survives in remarkable condition. Around the panels are some interesting half round giltwood mouldings and there is no doubt that this piece was produced by one of the leading suppliers of such furniture of the time.

This incredibly beautiful piece of furniture is a very rare survivor from the late regency/George IV period in England. The piece fuses the taste for all things oriental, which had seen a resurgence in popularity due to George IV's well-publicised work on the Brighton Pavilion, with the taste for penwork patterns which were printed in such publications as Ackermann's The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics, a magazine for the most fashionable ladies and gentlemen of the period which played a very important role in spreading new trends in furniture and decoration.

As early as 1772, the great papier mache pioneer in England Henry Clay had patented a process for layering the material and then japanning it and using oils to seal the structure. The japanned tin and papier mache industry in this country was predominantly centred around Wolverhampton and Birmingham, though Pontypool in Wales has a rich tradition of this sort and Clay himself also produced some of his pieces in London. At the height of the fascination with these materials there were very large numbers of workshops producing the more common wares such as tea trays and bottle coasters but few of those workshops would have had the technical know-how necessary to produce a cabinet like this one.

This cabinet and other fine examples of this period are often associated with the work of the designer Frederick Crace and, given the quality of our piece, it is certainly plausible that he might have been involved in supplying it to a client.