By permission of Messrs. Brown & Bool.
OLD LAC CABINET.
ENGLISH; EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Lacquered boxes had been sent home from the East by English, French, and Dutch merchants, for many years, and with characteristic ingenuity the French cabinetmakers had employed these as panels for their furniture, but the supply not being sufficient they had attempted a lacquer of their own, which is dealt with in a subsequent chapter on Louis XIV. furniture. Dutch lacquer-work was a similar attempt on the part of the craftsman of Holland to equal the Oriental originals.
LAC CABINET. MIDDLE OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
(Height, 2 ft. 5 in.; width, 2 ft. 8½ in.; depth, 1 ft. 6½ in.; height of stand, 2 ft. 9 in.)
(From the collection of W. G. Honey, Esq., Cork.)
W. G. Honey, Esq., Cork.
FRONT OF LAC CABINET (ILLUSTRATED), WITH DOORS CLOSED.
In the early eighteenth century the English craftsman tried his skill at lacquered furniture, it is true not with very successful results, but it is interesting to see what he has left as attempts. The illustration (p. [143]) of a chair in black and gold lac is of English manufacture. The splat back and the cabriole leg give the date, and the specimen is a noteworthy example. Another piece of the first half of the eighteenth century period is the lac cabinet illustrated (p. [151]). The metal hinges and corners of this are of chased brass and of English or Dutch workmanship. The shape and design of the drawer handles are frequently found in nests of drawers of this period, and there was a singular fondness shown at this time for numbers of small drawers and pigeon-holes in furniture. The now familiar bureau with bookcase above, and drop-down, sloping front covering drawers and recesses, dates from this time. The escutcheon of the lac cabinet is illustrated in detail as a tailpiece to this chapter to show the particular style of work found on the locks and hinges and drawer-handles of pieces of this nature. As has been said before, it is especially useful to the collector to make himself thoroughly familiar with these details of the various periods.