Chiffonier
Maker & role
Unknown, Maker
Production date
circa 1830-circa 1835
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Object detail
Production place
Collection
Measurements
0 - Whole, H: 181 x W: 96 x D: 47cm (H: 1810 x W: 960 x D: 470mm)
Production notes
Hobart or Launceston/TAS/Australia
Regency period.
Regency period.
Credit line
Gift, through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2006
Caroline Simpson Collection, Vaucluse House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caroline Simpson Collection, Vaucluse House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caption
Chiffonier, c1830-35
Description
Chiffonier in Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata), Tasmanian origin c. 1830-35, consisting of a backboard and series of three bracketed shelves above a cupboard base. The backboard, panelled between each shelf, has a double scroll (‘moustache’ shaped) pediment with applied turned circular bossess and carved fan motif to the centre top. The shelves have reeded edges and are supported by s-shaped double scroll brackets the lowermost being inverted. The brackets are decorated with turned bosses to the sides and reeding to front edge. The cupboard base has a frieze in the form of a blind centre panel between a pair of corner blocks. Each of these panels has inner mouldings of quarter round beading (knulling). The panelled cupboard doors also have quarter round beading (knulling) and are flanked by rope twist pillasters; the whole sits on squat turned feet.
Acquisitions for Vaucluse House are guided by the period of occupation by the Wentworth family, from 1827-1853, based where possible on inventories and other documentary evidence. Where direct information is not known acquisitions are based on documented information about other houses of similar period, style and quality.
This chiffonier is stylistically one of the earliest Australian versions known. The chiffonier was to become a staple of colonial cabinet-making in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Its abundance of naïve decoration, including the double scroll (‘moustache’ shaped) pediment, applied turned circular bossess, carved fan motif, knulled panel mouldings and rope twist pillasters characterizes provincial cabinetmaking (and particularly the application of older forms to more up-to-date furniture forms) in insular societies such as Tasmania. The piece offers the opportunity for further study of design influences and early trade skills in Australia.
A chiffonier, or ‘chefonier’, (from the French ‘chiffonierre’ = ‘rag gatherer’), is a Regency combination of a bookcase / cupboard, table surface and open shelving, potentially for display of ornaments (such as ceramics). They were popular for drawing rooms, parlours and sitting rooms and were to some extent the counterpart to the dining room sideboard. Loudon’s Encyclopaedia (1833) reported ‘They may be used as a sort of morning side-board for containing any light species of refreshment’.
Acquisitions for Vaucluse House are guided by the period of occupation by the Wentworth family, from 1827-1853, based where possible on inventories and other documentary evidence. Where direct information is not known acquisitions are based on documented information about other houses of similar period, style and quality.
This chiffonier is stylistically one of the earliest Australian versions known. The chiffonier was to become a staple of colonial cabinet-making in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Its abundance of naïve decoration, including the double scroll (‘moustache’ shaped) pediment, applied turned circular bossess, carved fan motif, knulled panel mouldings and rope twist pillasters characterizes provincial cabinetmaking (and particularly the application of older forms to more up-to-date furniture forms) in insular societies such as Tasmania. The piece offers the opportunity for further study of design influences and early trade skills in Australia.
A chiffonier, or ‘chefonier’, (from the French ‘chiffonierre’ = ‘rag gatherer’), is a Regency combination of a bookcase / cupboard, table surface and open shelving, potentially for display of ornaments (such as ceramics). They were popular for drawing rooms, parlours and sitting rooms and were to some extent the counterpart to the dining room sideboard. Loudon’s Encyclopaedia (1833) reported ‘They may be used as a sort of morning side-board for containing any light species of refreshment’.
Accession number
V2007/9
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