A LATE VICTORIAN IVORY-INLAID, ROSEWOOD, AND MARQUETRY CABINET-ON-STAND

Publications on Renaissance ornament in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, such as G. J. Oakshott's Details and Ornaments of the Renaissance of 1888, promoted the fashion for certosa style ivory inlay. The marquetry decoration on the present cabinet, an eclectic combination of various decorative elements in keeping with the Renaissance revival, is most probably the work of Stephen Webb, a member of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society and perhaps the most celebrated designer of ivory intarsia inlay. An employee from the mid-1880's of Messrs Collinson & Lock of Fleet Street and Oxford Street, he stayed with the firm after its takeover by Gillow & Co. in 1897.

A cabinet of the same model is illustrated in Examples of Furniture & Decoration by Gillows, London, 1904, p.136, pl. 3368 where it is described as 'A Rosewood cabinet, carved and richly inlaid with ivory and pearl in the style of the Italian Renaissance'. Another example was sold Christie's, London, 23 February 2006, lot 68 (£20,400), while an additional cabinet of this design is in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.