An impressive James I joined oak court cupboard, West Country, possibly Exeter, circa 1620


Profusely and predominantly recess-carved throughout, having an arabesque strapwork-carved frieze raised on bold bulbous gadrooned over leaf-carved end-columns, enclosing three panelled doors, each with deeply moulded and guilloche-carved rails and a single strapwork-carved panel, spaced by broad S-scroll carved muntin rails, over two drawers, again S-scroll carved, and spaced and flanked by a carved rosette, two large panelled doors below, each of five finely constructed panels, the central panel rosette-carved, the corner panels each with a heart motif, centred and flanked by strapwork pilasters, panelled sides, on extended stile feet, with regard to the top cupboards only the central door has a key operated lock, the cupboards either side are locked by metal rods operated from inside the middle cupboard, 198cm wide x 64cm deep x 167cm high, (77 1/2in wide x 25in deep x 65 1/2in high)
|Provenance:The Eric Moller Collection, Thorncombe Park, Surrey (see also Lot 11 from the same collection)Sold Sotheby's, 'The Moller Collection', London, 18 November 1993, Lot 24Sold Christie's, South Kensington, 26 February 2003, Lot 293Literature:Extensively illustrated R. W. Symonds, Furniture Making in 17th and 18th Century England (1955), pp. 40-41, pls. 58-60, with accompanying notes on p. 45. The Moller Collection features throughout this publication. Eric Moller moved to Thorncombe Park in 1943. He fully restored the house and assembled a fine collection of English Furniture and clocks with the help of furniture historian R. W. Symonds.H. Cescinsky, The Old World House (19240) p. 209, illustrates a related court cupboard, which although altered was probably from the same workshop as this lot. The lower doors have the same geometric-panelling, together with the carved central rosette and the corner heart motifs. Another comparable cupboard, from Fritwell Manor, Oxfordshire, purchased in May 2011 from Wraxhall Manor, Wiltshire, sold Christie's, South Kensington, 26th June 2013, Lot 659.