Rosewood, with painted panels; brass and glass
761/2 in (194.4 cm) x 483/4 in (123.8 cm) x 181/2 in (47 cm)
English (London), circa 1875

The cabinet relates closely in form to the corner cabinet, with painted panels by Charles Fairfax Murray, exhibited by Collinson & Lock at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, 1876.

For a corner cabinet of identical form, see H. Blairman & Sons, Furniture and Works of Art (2000), no. 18. Collinson & Lock used many designers during its short existence, including Bruce J. Talbert, E.W. Godwin, T.E. Collcutt and H.W. Batley. It may, however, have been George Lock who was responsible for this piece.

From at least 1874 until 1878, Murray supplied Collinson & Lock with painted panels to be incorporated into furniture. Invariably the descriptions are brief: ‘Panels ... Goddesses ... Seasons ... Pipe player & Companion ...‘ and so on. In total, more than 60 groups of paintings are recorded.

Easier to identify might be ‘Triumph of Venus’ and ‘Helga & Gunnlaug’. The panels of Lucretia and two virtues supplied at a cost of £80 are probably those on Godwin’s Lucretia Cabinet (Detroit Institute of Art) and another tentatively identifiable group is the Cinderella panels for Prince Liechtenstein’s cabinet (Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York also has four painted doors by Murray (22.17.4), but these cannot be identified in the surviving lists (John Rylands Library, Manchester: Eng. Mss. 1281/460-61).

The demand for such panels appears to have been relatively short lived. On 12 September 1878 Lock wrote to Murray: ‘I have pleasure to send you a cheque for £10 but just ask you to look upon it as the last advanced for some time to come, as we have come to the conclusion that it will be really most indiscreet of us to add a Sovereign’s worth to our Stock for some months ...’ (Eng. Ms. 1281/461).

Private collection.