Description
the stepped mirrored superstructure with spindle gallery crestings, decorated with painted 'leather' paper panels above an arrangement of open shelves, the base with moulded top and single drawer bearing characteristic brass ring handles, above further arrangement of mirrored open shelves enclosing a glazed cupboard
Dimensions
155.5cm wide, 206.5cm high, 54cm deep
Footnote
Literature: Reeves, Paul 'The Anglo-Japanese Buffet by E. W. Godwin, Variations on and Developments of a Design' Decorative Art Society, Journal 18, 1994, p. 39
Note: This fine cabinet includes several of the design features which can be used to identify the work of E. W. Godwin. The sparseness of the design, to which his followers and imitators seldom managed to restrict themselves, is evident here and the interplay between horizontal and vertical planes echo his earlier designs in the Anglo-Japanese idiom.
Japanese or Japonesque 'leather paper' is frequently used on his furniture, although its use is not exclusive to him. His preference for circular mirrors is again evident on this cabinet, as is the design for the finials and, of course, the trademark ring handles and backplates with keyhole piercings, taken from the antique. In ''The Anglo-Japanese Buffet by E. W. Godwin, Variations on and Developments of a Design' Decorative Art Society, Journal 18, 1994, Paul Reeves comments that he has only ever seen handles such as these on Godwin/ Watt pieces and dates this particular cabinet to the latter part of his career, circa 1880, following the publication of William Watt's seminal 'Art Furniture' catalogue published by BT Batsford in 1877.