A fine and rare pair of Japanese gilt-metal-mounted black lacquer and parcel-gilt cabinets 1640-1690, on George II gilt-gesso stands, circa 1730

each engraved gilt-copper-mounted cabinet decorated with stylized landscapes including trees, mountains and pavilions with rivers and wild-life, the sides decorated with birds, the cupboard doors opening to an arrangement of ten drawers with conforming decoration, all over a pierced frieze carved with parcel-gilt flower heads, each George II gilt-gesso stand with a frieze decorated with strapwork and flowerheads on a punched ground above a shaped frieze centered by a female mask flanked by flowerheads, scrolling tendrils, and wheat ears, the sides of the stand similarly decorated with female masks, the acanthus-carved cabriole legs with husk pendants and continuing to paw feet stands. Re-gilt.

Mallett, London

G. Beard & C. Gilbert, The Dictionary of English Furniture-Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, pp.618-619

R. Edwards & M. Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, London, 1946, p. 20, figs. 17-32

T. Murdoch, 'The King's Cabinet-Maker: The Giltwood Furniture of James Moore the Elder, The Burlington Magazine, June 2003, vol. 145, no. 1203, pp. 408-420

Good restored condition; The first cabinet with losses, restorations and age cracks to door panels and with some perishing to finish; sides with age cracks and some losses to lacquer; the pierced base with shrinkage, losses and restorations to edges; interior of right door with losses to the polychrome lacquer or the top flower and now with inpainting; drawer fronts with minor losses and lifting to lacquer; deep drawers with lines to fronts running along lines of construction beneath; lifting to drawer divider of two central bottom drawers; right door slightly warped outward at bottom; left door with age crack and minor losses to lacquer of left bottom corner; stand regilded; and with later restorations to gilding; losses and restorations to gesso especially to legs and feet, joins of brackets and edges rubbing and chips to gilding. The second cabinet with age crack and inpainting to the right door both the exterior and interior; minor losses to lacquer with inpainting; minor lifting and craquelure; interior panel to right door with age crack and inpainting and oval area to top left corner and left mid section with inpainting; left interior door with chip to right top corner; two small areas of losses and inpainting to upper right quadrant, center of door to flower head and along left edge of panel to inside of left door; background to drawer fronts to bottom central drawers slightly more brown in color than other drawer fronts; left side panel to case with age cracks, inpainting and losses to lacquer, especially to left of bail handle stop; the pierced base with shrinkage, losses and restorations to edges; the stand with losses to gilt gesso especially to front left leg at the front; losses to gesso and gilding to legs with later gilding in places; repaired breaks to tops of legs at inside edges; lifting to the gesso; cracquelure and chips.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The popularity of products from the Far East in Europe was so pronounced that it is discussed in A Discourse of Trade, Coyn, and Paper Credits, 1697: 'As ill Weeds grow apace, so these Manufactured Goods from India met with such a kind reception, that from the greatest Gallants to the meanest Cook-Maids, nothing was so through so fit, to adorn their persons, as the Fabricks of India; nor for the ornament of Chambers like India Skreens, Cabinets, Beds and Hangings; nor for Closets, like China and Lacquered Ware.'  Direct trade with Japan was also impossible, the Portuguese having been evicted in 1638, the Dutch being allowed a small and difficult trading post on the island of Dyushambe close to Nagasaki. The East India Company did attempt to open trade with Japan, but reported that `since our King [Charles II] was married with the daughter of Portugal, their enemy, they could not admit us to have any trade, and for no other reason,' thereby making the present cabinets even more coveted and valuable. The principal articles of luxury trade were silks, porcelains and lacquered wares, which included cabinets, coffers and screens.

The present cabinets of Japanese lacquer would have been highly prized by their English owner and the gilt-gesso stands, which appear to be original, would have been created to emphasize their rarity.  The stands are in the manner of the workshop of James Moore, elements of their decoration being specific to him. These include the curious sinuous tendrils attached to distinctive long flowering leaves and small petaled flower heads that seem to be significant features of his work. These appear on a pair of stands for George I and signed Moore, in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court. (See: Edwards and Jourdain, op. cit. Fig. 25) James Moore (circa 1670-1726) worked at Nottingham Court, Short's Gardens, St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London.  It is presumed that he was an apprentice in the workshop of John Gumley, the Royal Cabinet-Maker, becoming his partner in a number of Royal commissions after 1714.  After the dismissal of Sir John Vanburgh from his position as comptroller of the building of Blenheim Palace, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough appointed him in his stead, considering him to be her 'Oracle.'  It was certainly an odd position for the cabinet-maker, and indeed Tilleman Bobart, another comptroller, considered him to be a 'rogue.'  Moore's name occurs frequently in the accounts at Blenheim, and there are a number of pieces still in the Palace which certainly came from his workshop.  Besides becoming Cabinet-Maker to the King, his illustrious clients included Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, and Ralph, Ist Duke of Montagu.  His work is always of the highest quality and his imaginative designs in gilt-gesso are in the main far superior to his competitors.

This similarity might indicate that the present stands were made by James Moore the Younger (c. 1690-1734). Moore worked with his father and was closely involved with William Kent in the refurnishing of St. James's Palace, becoming cabinet-maker and chair-maker to Frederick, Prince of Wales.  Another Royal cabinet-maker closely associated with the Moore family was Benjamin Goodison (c. 1700-67), who had worked as a journeyman for Moore senior.