ERNEST GIMSON (1864-1919)
ARTS & CRAFTS CHINA CABINET, CIRCA 1916
£20,000
Auction: Day One: 21 April 2022 | From 11:00
Description
mahogany, with pattern inlay in Macassar ebony and holly and ebony chequer beading
Dimensions
101cm wide, 223.5cm high, 58cm deep approx.
Provenance
Provenance: The cabinet was made for Gimson's distant cousin Kingsley Gimson in 1916. The design is 1941.222.39, dated 25 July 1916, to be made in mahogany inlaid with holly & ebony.
Footnote
Literature: Carruthers A., Greensted M., Roscoe B. Ernest Gimson: Arts & Crafts Designer and Architect, Yale 2019, p.251, pl. 234 where this cabinet is illustrated.
Note: Copies of letters held at The Wilson, Cheltenham relate to this piece. The workshop Job Book states the cabinet took over 1000 hours to make (around 20 weeks) in 1916-17. It was made by Ernest Smith with some assistance from Harry Davoll, under the supervision of Peter Waals. The price charged was £85.10s, less than the cost of £88.10s given in the Job Book (1941.225.121, p.31).
The piece is typical of Gimson's later work, based on his early designs but made much more elaborate by the addition of the shaped cornice. In one of his letters, Gimson revealed that he had received an order for a similar piece as a result of this example, but that it would not be a repeat as he had 'used up the last veneers of a famous tree'.