{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O59030"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O59030/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM6926/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM6926/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM6926","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM6925","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM6924","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O59030/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O59030","accessionNumber":"W.74A/1 to 3-1981","objectType":"Table","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>This table, dating from about 1680, is veneered with pieces of Japanese lacquer. They  probably came from a Japanese chest of of around 1620-1640.<br><br><b>Materials & Making</b><br>The table top is partly made up from a drawer of a Japanese cabinet. The front of the table apron includes pieces of mother-of-pearl Namban lacquer, decorated with flowers and birds. (Namban, an export lacquer produced up until the 1620s, is characterised by its exotic manner of decoration that combines elements of Chinese, Korean and Gujurati work from India. It made extensive use of inlaid mother-of-pearl with gold and black lacquer.)  The scroll legs and reinforcing stretchers  are japanned (painted in imitation of Asian lacquer), and would have been made  in England.<br><br><b>Time</b><br>By about 1660 Japanese cabinets were much prized by the English nobility, as was any  piece of furniture from a workshop in Western Europe that incorporated parts that originally came from Japanese furniture.<br><br><b>Place</b><br>This was almost certainly made for Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland (1641-1702), for his seat at Althorp, Northamptonshire. It is referred to in an inventory of 1746.","physicalDescription":"Pine veneered with pieces of Japanese lacquer with mother of pearl (probably originally from a chest, about 1620-1640), and painted black and gold","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pine","id":"AAT12620"},{"text":"lacquer","id":"AAT14916"},{"text":"mother of pearl","id":"AAT11835"}],"techniques":[{"text":"lacquering","id":"AAT53796"},{"text":"painting","id":"AAT161986"},{"text":"veneered","id":"AAT53878"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pine, veneered with pieces of Japanese lacquer including mother-of-pearl, and painted black and gold","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"},{"text":"British Galleries","id":"THES48985"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006AM6926","2006AM6925","2006AM6924"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"54B (VA)","id":"THES49248"},"free":"","case":"PL1","shelf":"","box":"42"},{"current":{"text":"54B (VA)","id":"THES49248"},"free":"","case":"PL1","shelf":"","box":"42"},{"current":{"text":"54B (VA)","id":"THES49248"},"free":"","case":"PL1","shelf":"","box":"42"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Table","id":""}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":""}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1680","earliest":"1675-01-01","latest":"1684-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with the assistance of the Brigadier Clark Fund through Art Fund","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"79","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"108","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"73","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions checked: measured; 20/04/1999 by T.Hayes","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Almost certainly commissioned by Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland (born in Paris, 1641, and died at Althorp, Northamptonshire, 1702) for Althorp, Northamptonshire\r\nMade in England.\r\n\r\nNotes from R.P. 81/2380\r\n\r\nPartridge offers\r\n\"the Black Japanned table, mirror and candlestand with panels of Japanese lacquer cut from imported cabinets or screens\".\r\n\r\nStaff report (Craig …?)\r\nlooked at all three pieces \"from a lacquer point of view\" and noted that \"they contqain lacquer from at least three (disparate?) objects and three separate periods.  The stretcher base of the table is fitted with a panel of very early export lacquer c.1600, and the main panels of the table….date from 1630.\r\n\r\n….The 1630 pieces…carry the device of eight feathers in a ring, which we think is the mon, the heraldic deice, of the Inone family of Shimasa Province, near Tokyo.  This would add evidence to the suggestion that not all 'export' lacquers were made for export initially\".\r\n\r\nReport, Thornton to the Director\r\nthat \"such suites were par excellence the grand decorative ensemble of the period.  This one is most splendidly veneered with japanese lacquer that seems to me to be of the very highest quality…short of raiding Ham….we cannot represent this important class of furniture from our own collection and I would therefore like to buy this, which must come from the Earl of Sunderland's period at Althorp.\r\n\r\nMost of the correspondence relates to negotiating a price, determining tax status and arranging for the reproduction of a 2nd candlestand to complete the set.\r\n\r\nHandwritten notes (Thornton?)\r\n\"it has probably been at Althorp since it was new, in which case it will have formed part of the furnishing of this house when it belonged to the Earl of Sunderland.  An inventory of 1746 refers to an \" (?) table\" which may well be the actual piece.  At that time and perhaps from the outset, it had a \"crimson damask toilet\"…and one can imagine it perhaps standing as a very splendid feature of his countess' apartment\".","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Pine veneered table with Japenese lacquer; From Althorp pier set; England; ca. 1680","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"W.75-1981 [sic.]\r\n\r\nDRESSING TABLE\r\nENGLISH; about 1680\r\nPine japanned (painted) black and gold and veneered with Japanese lacquer.\r\nEnsuite with mirror (W.74-1981) and stand (W.76-1981) [sic.]\r\n\r\nPart of Robert, 2nd Earl of Sunderland's furnishings of Althorp, Northamptonshire.\r\n\r\nBought with the aid of the Brigadier Clark Fund.\r\n\r\nN.B.  Museum numbers incorrect on label","date":{"text":"pre October 2000","earliest":null,"latest":"2000-09-30"}},{"text":"TABLE, MIRROR AND TWO CANDLESTANDS\r\nPine veneered with Japanese lacquer and painted black and gold\r\nENGLISH; about 1680 (one of the stands is a modern replica)\r\n\r\nFrom Althorp, Northamptonshire. Groups of table, mirror and two candlestands were freqeuntly placed against the window piers of state apartments at this date. This group was probably acquired by Robert, second Earl of Sunderland, and seems originally to have served as a dressing table. Several high quality Japanese cabinets or screens have been cannibalised to supply the veneer: the mon or crest of a Japanese noble family can be seen on the table, showing that not only lacquer made for export was used in this way.","date":{"text":"pre July 2001","earliest":null,"latest":"2001-06-30"}}],"partNumbers":["W.74A/1-1981","W.74A/2-1981","W.74A/3-1981"],"accessionNumberNum":"74","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1981,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Table","Drawer [1]","Drawer [2]"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-09-08","recordCreationDate":"2001-05-17","availableToBook":false}}