Description: Anglo-Chinese cabinet in black and gilded lacquer, m.1800.
It consists of two bodies, the upper one with two doors and drawers in different sizes and inside drawers, topped with a carved and golden crest with a large central shell. And the lower one is composed of five large drawers with ivory handles behind the doors.
The furniture in lacquer and decorated with gilded chinoiserie is an English prototype, being slender furniture, with two doors and often topped by paired arches. Its export to Spain, Portugal, Italy and Germany gave rise to regional variants. Both in Europe and in America the taste for Asian objects was related to a certain search for ostentation and prestige. In the 16th and 17th centuries the lacquers with the highest circulation were Japanese. But after 1700, Chinese lacquers dominate the international market. In the 18th century the circulation of Asian lacquers increased in much of Europe.
The Bureau or Two-part Cabinet in British lacquer were very appreciated in our country. They used to be made to decorate rooms according to the demand of the nobility, defining themselves as paper storage desks because they exercised the function of containing papers or documents, being the equivalent of the term desks, counters or paper storage desks, or more commonly known as bargue?os.
Measurements: 190 x 62 x 105 cm