A drawing room cabinet by Collinson and Lock

A drawing room cabinet by Collinson and Lock, the upper section in kingwood-banded rosewood with two glazed doors enclosing a shelf above a frieze with two small and one disguised drawer decorated with an ivory-inlaid panel showing dancing putti and classical maidens on an arabesque ground, the lower section in cream-painted and gilt wood with a frieze of stop-fluting centred on a panel with an urn held by griffons concealing a further drawer , all raised on four slender tapering, fluted legs joined by a bow shaped stretcher surmounted by an urn. English, c1875.

Footnote: F.G. Collinson and G.J. Lock established the company in the 1860s. They achieved early success, employing and collaborating with some of the leading designers of the Aesthetic Art Movement. This included the architect T.E.Collcutt, who designed their new premises, Christopher Dresser, Stephen Webb (their senior designer), H.W. Batley and A.H. Mackmurdo. Alongside this avant garde production they were also famous for their antique marquetry furniture, incorporating rosewood, ivory and Pietra Dura marble mosaics (a 16th century Renaissance art form). Collinson & Lock also produced some outstanding international exhibition pieces. An ebonised antique cabinet, shown at the London International Exhibition in 1871, was purchased for the V & A museum and they exhibited a number of Anglo-Japanese pieces by E.W Godwin at the 1878 Paris Exposition.