English Chippendale style cabinet. Chinese work, late 18th century

Chippendale style cabinet with chinoiserie decoration. Chinese work, late 18th century.
Black lacquered wood with polychrome and gilding.
Some drawers have chinoiserie inscriptions.
Provenance: Yolanda Eleta de Fierro Collection.
Needs restoration.
Measurements: 180 x 70 x 70 cm.

Exceptional cabinet made in China towards the end of the 18th century, expressly conceived for export to the European market, and which reflects with great fidelity the influence of the English Chippendale style. The design of this piece of furniture responds to the deep fascination that the European aristocracy and bourgeoisie developed for oriental exoticism during the 18th and 19th centuries, a phenomenon known as chinoiserie.

The piece combines the structure and proportions typical of British furniture of the mid-18th century -such as the original support table with openwork skirt and decorated straight legs- with oriental architectural elements, especially the spectacular pagoda-shaped top. The latter, meticulously lacquered, presents Chinese-inspired landscape scenes, executed with the black and gold lacquer technique that caused so much admiration in Europe.
The exterior doors show scenes with the Eight Taoist Immortals in a setting of gardens and rock formations, while the reverse side displays compositions of floral baskets on a delicate gilded trellis. The interior, organized in drawers and small compartments, displays an exuberant decorative repertoire of floral bouquets, birds and butterflies, applied in bright colors and gilded on a black background, emulating the oriental lacquered tradition.

This type of furniture emerged from the trade between Europe and Asia promoted by companies such as the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. The Chinese workshops of Canton and Macao produced, under commission, pieces that adopted the forms in vogue in England or France, but preserved the refined local decorative technique, giving rise to hybrid creations of the highest artistic and cultural value. This cabinet is a material testimony of that aesthetic dialogue between East and West, which transformed European taste and defined the concept of luxury of the time.