Skip to Content
Today Open today 10–11 members | 11–5 public

Cabinet on Stand

Elongated cabriole legs of carved mahogany support a cabinet veneered with mahogany and outlined by ebony mouldings. On the front panel of the cabinet the veneer is quartered and the mouldings bordered by carved rococo C-scrolls. A skirt of intricately carved scrolls, floral garlands and single blossoms frames the cabinet on three sides. This relief work and the galleried superstructure are painted, it appears, to simulate ivory.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • Elongated cabriole legs of carved mahogany support a cabinet veneered with mahogany and outlined by ebony mouldings. On the front panel of the cabinet the veneer is quartered and the mouldings bordered by carved rococo C-scrolls. A skirt of intricately carved scrolls, floral garlands and single blossoms frames the cabinet on three sides. This relief work and the galleried superstructure are painted, it appears, to simulate ivory.

Date:

c. 1760

Artist:

Attributed to William Vile (English, 1700/05–1767)
London

About this artwork

Both the manipulation of the veneers and the carving on this cabinet suggest an attribution to William Vile. Born in Somerset, England, in about 1700, Vile was working as a cabinetmaker in London by 1751, in partnership with the upholsterer John Cobb, and retired in 1764. Little of Vile’s work is documented, apart from the pieces he made between 1761 and 1764 for his most important patrons, King George III and Queen Charlotte. While records survive describing many of the pieces made for the royal collection, it has not been possible to match this cabinet with any of those objects.

Elongated cabriole legs of solid carved mahogany support the cabinet, which is veneered with quartered mahogany, framed by ebony moldings, and bordered by carved Rococo relief ornament. This relief work and the galleried superstructure are painted, probably to simulate ivory. The cabinet was most likely intended to hold coins or medals: coin trays are fitted into boxes that slide into the upper and lower interior compartments.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Artist

William Vile

Title

Cabinet on Stand

Place

England (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1755–1765

Medium

Mahogany, ebony, boxwood

Dimensions

120.7 × 53.4 × 42.6 cm (47 1/2 × 21 × 16 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Eloise W. Martin Fund; Gladys Anderson, Tillie C. Cohn, and Mary Louise Stevenson endowments

Reference Number

1993.155

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/121777/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share