A pair of Louis XIV style gilt-bronze mounted calamander and hardwood breakfront side cabinets, probably English, late 19th/early 20th century

These opulent cabinets are conceived in the Louis XIV style which, together with other periods from the Ancien Régime, regained prominence during the Belle Époque and the later part of the 19th century. Although they appear French is design, the construction and lock mechanism are distinctly English in character. 

The cabinets employ an array of exotic materials which, when coupled with the quality of finely chased gilt-bronze mounts, point to a commission of some importance. The vivid brèche sanguine marble tops were mined in Algeria - a source of exceptional marbles championed by British diplomat and naturalist Sir Lambert Playfair (1828 –1899) following a visit in 1880 – and the highly prized Japanese lacquer panels would have originally formed part of an Edo period chest before being sensitively adapted.

Tantalizingly, these cabinets do not bear a maker's stamp although it is worth comparing them to a similarly conceived Louis XIV style cabinet with Butchoff Antiques which is stamped Gillows 1866 and relates to a design by the firm from 1874.