{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O48865"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O48865/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JL6078/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JL6078/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JL6078","copyright":"courtesy of The Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA4334","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O48865/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O48865","accessionNumber":"W.12:1-1930","objectType":"Clothes press","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Mahogany clothes press in three separable parts; cornice, carcase and stand. \nThe cornice is decorated with a ribbon and rosette moulding. The two doors enclosing the front are carved at the corners with a similar moulding; they have serpentine panels with a break in the middle, raised within mouldings of egg and dart. The interior, is lined in cedar wood and fitted with three adjustable shelves, also in cedar, above two drawers with brass loop handles. At the sides are heavy brass handles of the same kind with shaped back plates. The stand has cabriole legs terminating in lion paw feetand has three orders of mouldings above a shaped apron decorated with foliage and cabochon ornament on a ground of incised lattice-work.\n\nOn acquisition in 1930 decoration was missing at two front corners of the stand. Pieces missing fromback corners at the bottom and lower edges of the doors. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Giles Grendey","id":"A8452"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"Possibly the Giles Grendey workshop. The attribution is based on the use of the serpentine shaped panels which appear on several presses and wardrobes associated with Grendey, some of which bear his label.\nOur press has a more elaborately carved apron than other examples but no label. The brass carrying handles do not appear on other known presses of this form.\nGrendey was also a famed importer of timber from the West Indies."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Mahogany","id":"AAT12221"},{"text":"Cedar","id":"AAT12514"},{"text":"","id":""}],"techniques":[{"text":"Carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Mahogany, carved, with cedar(?) drawers and shelves, and brass fittings","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2016JL6078","2017KA4334"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES344634"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES344634"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES344634"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES344634"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES344634"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES344634"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES344634"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES344634"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"009","id":"THES302812"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Clothes press","id":""}],[{"text":"Stand","id":""}],[{"text":"Cornice","id":""}],[{"text":"Shelf","id":""}],[{"text":"Shelf","id":""}],[{"text":"Shelf","id":""}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":""}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":""}],[{"text":"key","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1740-1760","earliest":"1740-01-01","latest":"1760-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"165.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"140","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"at feet","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"76.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"at feet","note":"Back feet extend beyond carcase"}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured NH Nov 2020","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The clothes press was purchased from Mrs. Sweet-Escott, The Red Cottage,Lyme Regis,  Dorset in 1930 for £500. It had been in the owner's family for several generations and came to her from connections, who were members of the Brownlow family.The initial approach by the vendor referred to the press as by Chippendale, which is typical at this period when the name was applied to any well made item of furniture. She had been advised by the antique dealership Hurcomb, who were better known as dealers in antique silver.\n\nHistorical Significance: Although the exact source of the mahogany used in this clothes press cannot be confirmed, Jamaica (Swietenia mahagoni) accounted for over 90% of mahogany exports to Great Britain between 1722 to 1763, with most of the remainder from that period being from the Bahamas. The Naval Stores Act of 1721 removed import duties on timber from the American colonies, stimulating production and trade. Mahogany furniture appears frequently in bills, inventories, and advertisements from the early 1720s because of this rapid rise in popularity. \r\nOne of mahogany’s greatest advantages was its size. Boards over 60 cm (2 ft) wide were common and allowed large pieces to be made without joints. Narrower boards were ideal for legs and pillars, turned into pad feet or claw supports. Chair makers required only modest boards for frames and splats, prioritizing straight grain, toughness, and good colour over decorative figuring (Bowett, Woods in British Furniture-Making 1400-1900, p.123). \r\nMeeting Britain’s appetite for mahogany demanded a vast transatlantic workforce that included enslaved Africans in the West Indies and Central America, the Miskito community, and other Indigenous peoples. This workforce felled trees, hauled timber, and sometimes acted as brokers of environmental knowledge (Anderson, Mahogany: The Costs of Luxury in Early America, 2012, p.13).\r\n","historicalContext":"A clothes press is a form of cupboard with sliding trays or shelves in the upper part with drawers below, concealed by panelled doors. By the 18th century the term 'clothes press' and 'wardrobe' were interchangeable, though the term wardrobe was only introduced in the 18th century. A press was used for clothes that would fold flat and not hung on pegs. The actor David Garrick in a letter to his brother refers to his new frock coat and waistcoat being on the third shelf of a 'Cloathes press' in his London house. He further pointed out that it was not 'the Mahogany one, but ye Common one'. \nDimensions and fittings of presses vary. A low clothes press is sometimes referred to as a 'dwarf press' W.12-1930 press being made of mahogany and lined with cedar would havehad  additional charges. It is unusual for a press to sit on a carved stand, though a small number of this form have been identified. ","briefDescription":"Mahogany clothes press on a stand. English, 1740-1760.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"John Gloag, <i>The English Tradition in Design</i> (London: King Penguin, 1947), fig. 26"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"R.E.(Ralph Edwards), A Mahogany Clothes Press at the Victoria & Albert Museum. <i>Country Life</i>, August 16th 1930"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Carclew House, Cornwall. <i>Country Life,</i> 13 May 1916 \nCarclew House, Cornwall,<i>Country Life</i>,14 April 1934 Fig. 7 The Entrance Hall"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Edwards, Ralph and Jourdain, Margaret. Georgian Caninet-Makers c.1700-1800. Country Life, Revised edition, p.144, Fig.49 (section on Giles Grendey)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"R.W. Symonds <i>'<i>Old English Furniture and its Makers: The Problem of Identification'</i></i>in Ambrose Heal, 'The London Furniture Makers, Batsford, 1953 pp. 213-262, Fig.28"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"WARDROBE\r\nENGLISH; about 1750\r\nMahogany\r\nAttributed to the workshop of Giles Grendey.","date":{"text":"pre October 2000","earliest":null,"latest":"2000-09-30"}}],"partNumbers":["W.12:1-1930","W.12:2-1930","W.12:3-1930","W.12:4-1930","W.12:5-1930","W.12:6-1930","W.12:7-1930","W.12:8-1930","W.12:9-1930"],"accessionNumberNum":"12","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1930,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Clothes press","Stand","Cornice","Shelf [1]","Shelf [2]","Shelf [3]","Drawer [1]","Drawer [2]","key"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-15","recordCreationDate":"2000-10-18","availableToBook":false}}