Elmgarden

Description

18th Century Japanned Collectors Cabinet on Stand, Clive of India

This wonderful Collectors Cabinet dates from the Early part of the 18th it has large doors enclosing 10 drawers all of different sizes, the cabinet is japanned and decorated in the oriental style with figures of people, animals, wonderful exotic birds and flowers. The brass work is engraved in fine detail
Cabinets like this were very popular with people who travelled widely to keep their foreign acquisitions
This is a superb piece in its own right, but has a very interesting provenance

It is reputed that this lovely piece belonged to Clive of India, there is a handwritten letter that attributes its ownership to him, this was found beneath one of the drawers.
There are indications, in Clive of India's own memoirs he records a time when as a lowly clerk he attempted suicide but the pistol failed to shoot, he is said to have place the pistol into a drawer of a cabinet and then at some later point the family sold the cabinet but retained the drawer that housed the pistol.
The details about the drawer seem plausible, on very close inspection the bottom left hand drawer (looking at the cabinet from the front) is a replacement
The cabinet stands on a profusely carved gilded base, this is a later addition
The collectors cabinet shows signs of its age but it is sound and the interior is a joy to see when the doors are opened, the existing colour of the interior lacquer work is bright and has been protected from the light. There are cracks on the doors but these are sound and stable and the top has been a bit rubbed over the years
The cabinet is 60” tall on the stand, 46” wide and 23” deep
AT22

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