Rectangular cabinet of oak veneered with tulipwood, purplewood, mahogany and boxwood, fitted with elaborately chased gilt bronze mounts and inset with ten plaques of soft-paste Sèvres porcelain. The slab, which has a moulded fore-edge, is of white statuary marble, and the shelves on either incurving splayed side of brocatello marble. Supported on four gilt bronze peg feet. Fitted with three drawers closed by two doors, above which was formerly a frieze drawer (now blocked). Mounts consist of foliate arabesques, clusters of grapes, birds, satyrs, cornucopia and goats.

Furniture embellished with Sèvres plaques would have appealed to George IV’s taste for the bright, the ornate and the eye-catching and well suited to enhance the richness of his schemes of interior decoration. This cabinet is the most opulent and harmoniously designed survival from a once-large collection of porcelain-mounted furniture acquired by him.

The plaques were undoubtedly bought from the manufactory by the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre, who monopolised the market for Sèvres plaques in the 1780s. He would commission the maître-ébéniste (master cabinetmaker) Martin Carlin to make plaques of Daguerre’s own design. Daguerre may have sold the piece directly to George IV when working closely with him on the refurbishment of Carlton House at the end of the decade.

The distinctive speckled blue ground, fond Taillandier, was named after the Sèvres painter Vincent Taillandier (active 1753-90), who specialised in it and is credited with its invention.

Stamped on the back and top of the cabinet (repeated four times, traces only for two of the stamps): M. CARLIN (Martin Carlin, maître-ébéniste).

Text adapted from French Porcelain for English Palaces, Sèvres from the Royal Collection, London, 2009.