Antique Mahogany Bow Fronted Two-Door Wardrobe by Maple & Co, 19th Century

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Antique Mahogany Bow Fronted Two-Door Wardrobe by Maple & Co, 19th Century

About the Item

This is an impressive antique English Victorian Sheraton style mahogany wardrobe by the world-famous British furniture maker, Maple & Co., circa 1890 in date. This beautiful bow-fronted two-door wardrobe features an exquisite dentil cornice above highly attractive satinwood banded panelled doors with ebonised stringing. The doors open to reveal a capacious space with full length hanging section, with brass rail, hooks and a useful shelf. It is raised on a splendid plinth base and is complete with its original brass handle, working lock and key. The inside of the wardrobe bears the manufacturer's ivorine label plaque, 'From Maple & Co. Limited London & Paris.' It is a truly stunning wardrobe with handsome proportions, amazingly undisturbed patina and it is also very spacious. Condition: In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 213 x width 132 x depth 58 Dimensions in inches: Height 83.9 x width 52.0 x depth 22.8 Maple & Co the renowned furniture retailer of London, Paris and Buenos Aires, were famous for top quality furniture. They were by Royal Appointment and became one of the leading furniture manufacturers of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. They used only the finest quality timber which was imported directly from all-over the world. Maple and Company were founded in 1841 in Tottenham Court Road, London and had premises there until 1997. By the 1880s they were the largest and most successful furniture makers in the world, their huge emporium having become a tourist attraction in its own right. In addition to their middle class clientele, they furnished Embassies, hotels, beautiful homes and palaces all-over the globe, including Tsar Nicholas's Winter Palace, the Hoffburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, and many of Britain's country houses. Mahogany is probably one of the largest ‘families’ of hardwood, having many different varieties within its own species. Mahogany has been used for centuries in ship building, house building, furniture making etc and is the core structure of just about every 19th century vanity box, dressing case or jewellery box. It became more of a Victorian trend to dress Mahogany with these decorative veneers, such as Kingwood, Burr Walnut and Coromandel, so that the actual Mahogany was almost hidden from view. Mahogany itself is a rich reddish brown wood that can range from being plain in appearance to something that is so vibrant, figured and almost three dimensional in effect. Although Mahogany was most often used in its solid form, it also provided some beautifully figured varieties of veneer like ‘Flame’ Mahogany and ‘Fiddleback’ Mahogany (named after its preferred use in the manufacture of Fine musical instruments). Cuban Mahogany was so sought after, that by the late 1850's, this particular variety became all but extinct. Satinwood is a hard and durable wood with a satinlike sheen, much used in cabinetmaking, especially in marquetry. It comes from two tropical trees of the family Rutaceae (rue family). East Indian or Ceylon satinwood is the yellowish or dark-brown heartwood of Chloroxylon swietenia. The lustrous, Fine-grained, usually figured wood is used for furniture, cabinetwork, veneers, and backs of brushes. West Indian satinwood, sometimes called yellow wood, is considered superior. It is the golden yellow, lustrous, even-grained wood found in the Florida Keys and the West Indies. It has long been valued for furniture. It is also used for musical instruments, veneers, and other purposes. Satinwood is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Sapindales, family Rutaceae. Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) was an English cabinetmaker and one of the leading exponents of Neoclassicism. Sheraton gave his name to a style of furniture characterised by a feminine refinement of late Georgian styles and became the most powerful source of inspiration behind the furniture of the late 18th century. His four-part Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterers’ Drawing Book greatly influenced English and American design. Sheraton was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker, but he became better known as an inventor, artist, mystic, and religious controversialist. Initially he wrote on theological subjects, describing himself as a “mechanic, one who never had the advantage of collegiate or academical education.” He settled in London circa 1790, and his trade card gave his address as Wardour Street, Soho. Supporting himself mainly as an author, Sheraton wrote Drawing Book (1791), the first part of which is devoted to somewhat naive, verbose dissertations on perspective, architecture, and geometry and the second part, on which his reputation is certainly based, is filled with plates that are admirable in draftsmanship, form, and proportion. In 1803 Sheraton, who had been ordained a Baptist minister in 1800, published his Cabinet Dictionary (with plates), containing An Explanation of All Terms Used in the Cabinet, Chair and Upholstery Branches with Dictionary for Varnishing, Polishing and Gilding. Some of the designs in this work, venturing well into the Regency style, are markedly unconventional. That he was a fashionable cabinetmaker is remarkable, for he was poor, his home of necessity half shop. It cannot be presumed that he was the maker of those examples even closely resembling his plates. Although Sheraton undoubtedly borrowed from other cabinetmakers, most of the plates in his early publications are supposedly his own designs. The term Sheraton has been recklessly bestowed upon vast quantities of late 18th century painted and inlaid satinwood furniture, but, properly understood and used in a generic sense, Sheraton is an appropriate label recognizing a mastermind behind the period. The opinion that his lack of success was caused by his assertive character is hypothetical.

Creator:
Maple & Co. (Maker)
Dimensions:
Height: 83.86 in (213 cm)Width: 51.97 in (132 cm)Depth: 22.84 in (58 cm)
Style:
Sheraton (In the Style Of)
Materials and Techniques:
Mahogany
Place of Origin:
England
Period:
1890-1899
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1890
Condition:
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: 097711stDibs: LU950616507152