Estate / Collection: The Estate of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

Circa 1715

With boldly arched broken pediment, surmounted by urn finials above a pair of arched panelled cupboard doors enclosing a well-fitted interior with pigeon-holes, racks and tiers of straight and concave fronted drawers, framing two cupboard doors enclosing further drawers, the base with two candle-slides, the lower part with fall front opening to reveal a fitted interior including a well above four long drawers on bracket feet.

Height 100 inches (254 cm), width 47 1/2 inches (120.5 cm), depth 25 1/2 inches (65 cm).

The overall form and treatment, with its pronounced architectural pediment and richly developed interior suggests an affinity with the workshop practice of James Moore (1670-1726).

James Moore of Nottingham Court, Short’s Gardens, St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London, cabinetmaker to George I whose court commissions frequently combined walnut veneers with elaborate architectural schemes. He had an exceptional career working for a group of forward-thinking patrons. He started his career possibly as an apprentice with Elizabeth Gumley and her son John and, in 1714, Moore enters partnership with the Gumleys, an association that continued until his death in 1726, although it is obvious from surviving documentary evidence that the partners frequently carried out individual commissions, besides those for the Royal Household. Some of Moore’s known patrons include the Duchess of Marlborough, Duchess of Buccleuch, the Duke of Montagu, and the Earl of Burlington.