Captain & Mrs Alsager’s Pair of Black Lacquer & Gilt Decorated Cabinets on Stands

Acquired as a present for his wife on one of his voyages to China and brought back to their home in Surrey, England.

This exceptional pair of highly decorative cabinets having two doors opening to reveal a bank of eight graduated drawers supported on an indented frieze and four turned and tapering legs with leaf carved gilded capitals and gilded paw feet.

The cabinets decorated to the sides and to each door with a central vignette illustrating oriental scenes surrounded by a border of two-toned gilded flowers with further shaped cartouches filled with similar decoration. To each side is the original brass ‘swan-neck’ shaped carrying handle.

Inside the cabinets, the reverse of each door is decorated with bamboo in the same two-tone gilding and each of the eight drawers with a pair of vignettes in a field of decoration to match the outside of the cabinets. Within each vignette is a charming scene depicting figures in a landscape.  Each scene is different and possibly combine to tell a story. The drawers retain their original bone handles.

The stands decorated with the same attention to detail but with a foliate design infilled with gold dots against a black background to both the frieze and the legs.

Provenance:

Captain & Mrs Richard Alsager (1781-1841), East India Company and by descent through the family.

A full report on their fascinating history and provenance is available on request