A GEORGE IV PLUM-PUDDING MAHOGANY BEDSIDE CABINET

This bedside cabinet is designed in the 'chaste and elegant' manner lauded in R.Ackermann's Repository of Arts, 1814. It evolved from the Grecian and French antique styles promoted by George Smith in whose Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1808, it was noted that such 'pot cupboards' were 'ornamental articles ... to be placed on each side of the bed; the upper shelf serving for china, either for ornament or use, and forming at the same time a Table useful in case of indispostion' (ibid., pl. 130).