Thomas Moore
Head of Department
Lot 38TP
A pair of German 19th century porcelain and gilt bronze mounted ebonised cabinets on stands
27 November 2019, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £31,312.50 inc. premium
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A pair of German 19th century porcelain and gilt bronze mounted ebonised cabinets on stands
Circa 1870, each mounted with twenty-eight porcelain plaques of various shapes painted with scenes gallants, courting couples and putti, one cabinet with a pierced porcelain gallery surmounted by nine painted figures (one lacking) dressed in 18th century attire, the other with a porcelain and ebonised baluster gallery surmounted by six similar figures, each with a pair of oval panel mounted doors encompassed by spandrel mounts, the reverse with walnut and tulipwood crossbanded veneers, enclosing one long frieze drawer over eight short drawers interspersed by two Silenus and two Flora painted porcelain term figures, with one set terminating in an ebonised base and the other set on porcelain pedestals, centred by a mirrored recess with a bobbin turned gothic colonnade and chequerboard inlaid floor, above two twin panel mounted short frieze drawers, on stop fluted tapering and baluster turned legs, with a shaped X-stretcher surmounted to the centre by a scantily clad porcelain maiden, some minor variations, 116cm wide x 52cm deep x 165cm high, (45 1/2in wide x 20in deep x 64 1/2in high) (2)
Footnotes
A virtually identical German porcelain mounted cabinet on stand to the offered pair sold Christie's, London, 23 May 2019, The Collector, lot 519. This same example had in turn been sold at auction six years previously, also at Christie's, London, 10 September 2013, lot 188 under the title: 'Property of a lady'.
Another closely comparable model to the present lot is illustrated in C. Payne European Furniture of the 19th Century, 2013, Suffolk, p. 319, along with a couple of further related cabinets of varying form. Such furniture was most fashionable in Continental Europe in the third quarter of the 19th century, but perhaps reached its zenith of popularity among the affluent classes during the 1870s and 80s.
As Payne notes, there is little recorded information regarding these German porcelain mounted cabinets and even less is known about the makers who produced them since none appear to have been marked. However, while the painted porcelain plaques used on such pieces are also typically unmarked, it is widely believed that they were manufactured predominantly in the Dresden and Thuringia areas in a generic 18th century Meissen style. And the firms who supplied this porcelain were demonstrating their skill and ingenuity by continuing the historic legacy established by the Meissen manufactory.
