Object Description
This is a superb antique Victorian ormolu mounted burr walnut and fruitwood marquetry display cabinet by Edwards & Roberts, circa 1860 in date.
It is inlaid with urns of assorted flowers, floral trails and foliage. The entire piece highlights the unique and truly exceptional pattern of the book matched burr walnut veneers which have been enriched by the beautiful floral marquetry decoration. It is further compliment by the fabulous quality ormolu mounts that we have cleaned to show the beautiful and original mercury gilding.
This cabinet is bow ended and the top has elegant curved glass bow ends on either side and a pair of glazed doors in the centre that open to reveal three adjustable shelves, the lower part has a pair of central panelled doors enclosing one shelf and panelled bow ends.
The interior has been relined in stunning Royal Purple velvet and the attention to detail and lavish decoration are certain to draw the eye wherever you choose to place it in your home.
The lower doors are stamped with the name of the renowned maker and retailer Edwards & Roberts, Wardour Street London and the back also bears their paper label.
Complete with working locks and original keys.
Condition:
In excellent condition having been beautifully restored and the interior relined in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 230 x Width 192 x Depth 44
Dimensions in inches:
Height 90.6 x Width 75.6 x Depth 17.3
‘Burr Walnut’ refers to the swirling figure present in nearly all walnut when cut and polished, and especially in the wood taken from the base of the tree where it joins the roots. However the true burr is a rare growth on the tree where hundreds of tiny branches have started to grow. Burr walnut produce some of the most complex and beautiful figuring you can find.
Marquetry
is decorative artistry where pieces of material (such as wood, mother of pearl, pewter, brass silver or shell) of different colours are inserted into surface wood veneer to form intricate patterns such as scrolls or flowers.
The technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th century Florence. Marquetry elaborated upon Florentine techniques of inlaying solid marble slabs with designs formed of fitted marbles, jaspers and semi-precious stones. This work, called opere di commessi, has medieval parallels in Central Italian “Cosmati”-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as pietra dura, for the “hardstones” used: onyx, jasper, cornelian, lapis lazuli and colored marbles. In Florence, the Chapel of the Medici at San Lorenzo is completely covered in a colored marble facing using this demanding jig-sawn technique.
Techniques of wood marquetry were developed in Antwerp and other Flemish centers of luxury cabinet-making during the early 16th century. The craft was imported full-blown to France after the mid-seventeenth century, to create furniture of unprecedented luxury being made at the royal manufactory of the Gobelins, charged with providing furnishings to decorate Versailles and the other royal residences of Louis XIV. Early masters of French marquetry were the Fleming Pierre Golle and his son-in-law, André-Charles Boulle, who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers (ébénistes) and gave his name to a technique of marquetry employing shell and brass with pewter in arabesque or intricately foliate designs.
Ormolu – (from French ‘or moulu’, signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as ‘gilt bronze’.
The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object.
After around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury other techniques were used instead. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt..
Our reference: 08645