1894-1903 Shapland & Petter English Arts & Crafts Mission Mahogany Main Sideboard # 2130 With Cellarette

Description

Shapland & Petter main sideboard 2130 in fumed West Indies mahogany consists of a buffet carcase with cellarette and a … more Shapland & Petter main sideboard 2130 in fumed West Indies mahogany consists of a buffet carcase with cellarette and a mirrored over-mantle with glazed cupboards.

The design of this sideboard dates from about 1894 through 1903. During this period, William Cowie was head of the design team which included James Henry Rudd and Henry Percy Shapland, grandson of the company founder.

The over-mantle consists of a molded flat top shelf surround, double grooved for platter and plate display. Below this is a pierced gallery of peacock fretwork. The central shaped beveled mirror is inset into a pointed arch frame - a distinct Shapland & Petter treatment used virtually exclusively as a regular feature - surrounded by molding. Under the mirror is a shaped shelf. Below the shelf are three shaped support brackets.

On each side is a canted cupboard with glazed doors and side panels. The glass panes are of a light amber-yellow tone. The plain panes are seedy glass and the remaining panes are blown crown antique bottle glass, or bullseye glass. The doors are decorated and attached with right angle corner pierced and hand-beaten repousse antiqued copper hinges. The drop pulls and pierced escutcheons are antiqued copper. The doors do lock and keys are provided. The inset brass lock on the left door is stamped "SPB" and the inset brass lock on the right is stamped "S&P B Double Lever". Shapland & Petter used double lever locks. Not all were stamped, so we are lucky two of them are stamped with the "SP" and the "B" for Barnstaple.

The side panels on the over-mantle are pierced with heart designs in the style indicative of William Cowie designs. Hearts were a most popular motif, used by most influential Arts & Crafts designers, and recognized as the symbol of the Arts & Crafts movement. Hearts are symbolic of love, honesty, and devotion and suited the movement's emphasis on truth, integrity, and joy in labor and love.

The vertical supports are squared columns, tapered at tops.

Below the buffet top are two frieze drawers with copper drop pulls and pierced and hand-beaten repousse backplates.

In between the drawers are three curved decorative supports.

Below the drawers are two double-doored cabinets. The door front panels are inset into the frame from the back, rather than the front, and held in place with pinned molding from the back. This was a change in construction from the Arts & Crafts architect and designer Charles Robert Ashbee ( C.R. Ashbee ). The technique gives greater visual interest as it strengthens the geometric effect as the panel meets the frame at a clean right angle rather than a curve.

The panels feature linenfold wood carving. The term "linenfold" was a 19th-century creation. The original Latin name for this design was "lignum undulatum", or "wavy wood". The design originated in Flanders, which was a principle location for the linen industry in the 15th century. The wood design was utilized in Flanders, Northern France, Germany, Scandinavia, and England, where it remained popular.

The cabinet doors are decorated and attached with pierced and hand-beaten copper repousse strap hinges, likely made in-house at Shapland & Petter and distinct in the designs of William Cowie and James Henry Rudd. The copper strapping wraps around to the sides of the front stiles. The drop pulls and pierced repousse escutcheons are of copper.

The doors have inset latches top and bottom (except third door from left, the corner of which has been repaired) and locks. The latches are stamped "SHOWELL'S PATENT" which likely indicates they were made by Edwin Showell & Sons Brassfounders and Art Metal Workers of Birmingham, established about 1790. The left cabinet lock is stamped "S&P B Secure Handmade". The right cabinet lock is stamped "Secure Lever". The locks are not operable; however, the doors do stay closed without locking.

The left cabinet contains one removeable shelf.

The right cabinet contains a unique round slide-out rotating wooden cellarette with turned supports and circular spaces for six bottles or decanters. This is probably a design element from James Henry Rudd as he features a sideboard with built in wood cellarette in the chapter titled "Construction of a Sideboard" in his 1913 book "Cabinet Making: Principles of Designing, Construction and Laying Out Work".

The cabinet partition is decorated with two vertical hand-beaten copper repousse straps.

The side panels are plain mahogany.

The front apron is molded and the side aprons are curved.

Two curved brackets are at the front next to the curved spade feet.

This sideboard has all the geometric elements that create the three-dimensional presence of a Shapland & Petter piece and avoid the monotony of blank spaces and straight lines: rectangular frames and panels, angled arches, projecting cupboards, squared supports, overhanging cornices, slatted rows, pierced shapes, curves, angles, and shaped brackets.

The copper hardware was acid oxidized in house by Shapland and Petter to give it an antique patina instead of shiny new copper. The strap hinges were likely hand-crafted in-house; however the cast and machine-pressed drawer and door pulls and escutcheons were likely commissioned by Shapland & Petter for exclusive use from Loach & Clarke, Birmingham Metal Workers.

For further provenance, view the illustration we have included from the Shapland & Petter catalogue. ( Shapland & Petter furniture catalogue drawings care of the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon. )

Sideboard will suit interiors incorporating elements of Arts & Crafts, Tudor, Medieval, and Jacobean.

SIZE:

76" wide
24.75" deep
76" high

The over-mantle and sideboard are separate pieces and will be separated for ease of transport.

Description Author and Photo Credit: Dawn Torres-Reyes less