Lot 392
ATTRIBUTED SIR ROBERT LORIMER FOR WHYTOCK & REID, EDINBURGH
INLAID MAHOGANY, BURR WALNUT AND PAINTED CABINET ON STAND, CIRCA 1920
Auction: 10 October 2018 at 11:00 BST
Description
with glazed sides and two glazed doors, the frames inlaid with burrwood panels and enclosing a shaped shelf to the interior, the whole raised on a green patinated stand with gilded carved elements
123cm wide, 137cm high, 54cm deep
Footnote
Provenance: Paul Reeves, London
Literature: Savage, Peter, 'Lorimer and the Edinburgh Craft Designers', Steve Savage 1980, p. 89, plate 175
Note: Although Lorimer had used the Edinburgh cabinet makers Whytock & Reid in the 19th century, from around 1900 they increasingly became his favoured cabinetmakers because of their skill in interpreting his design sketches and their high quality workmanship.
Lorimer did not hold copyright over his work, and many examples of what may have started as his designs became Whytock & Reid pieces which, as modified for other customers, became examples of the firms' look.
This fine display cabinet, probably a one off commission, is designed in the Chinese taste, an aesthetic Lorimer favoured in the later part of his career and employed in commissions such as Glencruitten House, near Oban, in 1927. The cabinet demonstrates all the characteristic features of his output including high quality inlaid cabinetmaking using fine timbers, with low relief carved and moulded detail.