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Secretary cabinet

ca. 1735
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 512
Japanning, a fashionable European technique intended to imitate Asian lacquer, was very popular in England beginning in the last quarter of the seventeenth-century. Special manuals were published such as John Stalker and George Parker’s A Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing (London, 1688), which contained technical information on how to make lacquer-like varnishes as well as useful designs for the decoration of furniture. The vogue for japanning remained strong during the eighteenth century as is evidenced by the 1732 publication of The Method of Learning to Draw in Perspective…Likewise a New and Curious Method of Japanning…so as to imitate China: and to make black or gilt Japan-Ware as Beautiful and Light as any brought from the East-Indies. A large number of extant pieces of japanned furniture also underscore their one time popularity.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Secretary cabinet
  • Date: ca. 1735
  • Culture: British
  • Medium: Oak, pine, and walnut decorated in red, gold, and silver japanning; brass; mirror glass
  • Dimensions: Overall: 81 × 41 1/4 × 22 in. (205.7 × 104.8 × 55.9 cm)
  • Classification: Woodwork-Furniture
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Acquisitions Benefit Fund 2013; Gift of Mrs. Edward Karfiol, in memory of Edward Karfiol; Gift of Bernard M. Baruch, in memory of his wife, Annie Griffen Baruch; and Gifts of Irwin Untermyer, George Blumenthal and Mrs. Russell Sage, by exchange, 2014
  • Object Number: 2014.186a, b
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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Card table (from a large set), Giles Grendey, Lacquered and gilded beech; lined with felt, British, Clerkenwell, London
Card table (from a large set)
Giles Grendey
ca. 1735–40
Side chair, Giles Grendey, Lacquered and gilded beech; caning, British, Clerkenwell, London
Side chair
Giles Grendey
ca. 1735–40
Cabinet on stand, Pine veneered with marquetry of walnut, burl walnut, holly; oak drawers; walnut legs; brass hardware, some of it replaced, British
Cabinet on stand
British
ca. 1700
Desk (Secretary), Pine; carved, painted, gilded, and varnished linden wood decorated with colored decoupage prints; mirror glass; the inside of the fall front lined with silk not original to the secretary, Italian, Venice
Desk (Secretary)
Italian, Venice
ca. 1730–35
Small desk with folding top (bureau brisé), Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt Dutch, Oak, pine, walnut veneered with ebony, rosewood, and marquetry of tortoiseshell and engraved brass; gilt bronze and steel, French, Paris
Small desk with folding top (bureau brisé)
Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt
Jean Berain
ca. 1685

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