Victorian Mahogany Pedestal Cupboard by W Walker, Bunhill Row, London

A good quality Victorian mahogany pedestal cupboard, circa 1880, by William Walker & Sons, of Bunhill Row, London. The single panelled door with scroll bracket corners and raised on plinth base, the interior with single shelf.

In excellent condition and of good colour throughout.

William Walker & Sons was a prestigious firm of cabinet makers and upholsterers, based in London, 1835-1890.

Recorded in 1835 at 112 Marylebone High Street and in 1839 at 4 Westmoreland Street. Then listed as a cabinet, chair and sofa maker at 4 Westmoreland Street in the 1845 & 1851 London Post Office directories. By 1871 the firm had moved to 119 Bunhill Row and had expanded their business, listed in The Furniture Gazette: Classified List as wholesale art furniture manufacturers, merchants, and cabinet, chair and couch makers.

They participated in several late 19th-century domestic and international exhibitions, including:

* 1873 Vienna World Exhibition: 'Good ornamental furniture in satinwood, likewise with medallions of carved ivory, although gold and colours seem somewhat indiscreetly obtruded’.

* 1875 Exhibition of Ancient and Modern Furniture: Loaned an unspecified sideboard held in connection with the City and Spitalfields School of Art.

* 1878 Paris Exhibition: A suite designed by R. Davey in an Anglo-Moorish style including a sideboard of oak, peartree & ebony, together with a low buffet, which was subsequently in the Birkenhead Col

* 1879 Sydney Exhibition 1879: Three suites of furniture; a walnut dining suite in Queen Anne style; a rosewood drawing room suite (both designed by R. Davey); and a walnut morning room suite in Adams style designed by J. Turner, another of the firm’s artists. They were also the maker of the show-case containing Messrs Greenlees Brothers Scotch whiskies at this Exhibition; the case, designed by Davey, was in walnut, relieved with gilt and in the Old Scottish Baronial style.

* 1880 Melbourne Exhibition: Awarded a first class order of merit for art furniture.

* 1882 Building Exhibition: Wood chimneypieces.

* 1883 Building Trades Exhibition.

The export trade became an important element of their business following the exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne.

An advertisement in The Furniture Gazette, 22 July 1876, illustrated new premises of the firm to replace the old one in Bunhill Row which was burned down by fire. They continued to advertise in this publication until at least 1886. A further expansion of their warehouse and manufacturing premises and the steam cabinet works in Bunhill Row were depicted on a trade card of the 1880s. This building apparently housed machinery on the ground floor with three floors of workshops above and a yard used for packing space and wood store. Additional showrooms were used to display carved furniture and upholstery.