Object Description
A Pair of Burr Walnut Glazed Side Cabinets
By Gillows
Designed in the Franglais manner combining English and French features, the side cabinets of serpentine outline veneered in burr walnut with tulipwood crossbanding and gilded bronze mounts, having curved sides decorated with musical trophies, the glazed central doors enclosing a shelved interior, the rounded corners of the cabinets with figural espagnolettes; with an upper platform of smaller graduated size. Stamped by the maker ‘GILLOW.’
English, circa 1855
Published in ‘British Furniture 1820 to 1920’ by Christopher Payne, 2023, p. 146-7, illustrated fig. 3.52a-b.
This pair of cabinets are characteristic of the French influence in English cabinetwork around the mid nineteenth century. The quarter-veneering seen in the tulipwood is a typical continental technique, as is the use of ormolu, while the curved glass doors are an English feature following the lines of a magnificent upright burr-walnut piano that was a great hit at the Crystal Palace.