3/1956-1

Furniture

Walnut sideboard with inlaid decoration of butterflies, sunflowers, leaves and six painted panels depicting signs of the Zodiac, designed by Lewis Foreman Day and painted by George McCullogh, manufactured in England in c.1880.

sideboard

3/1956-1

Lewis Foreman Day (designer)
George McCullogh (artist)

c.1880 (made)

England (made)

Victorian (1837-1901)

walnut
glass
paint
holly
metal

joined
painted
glued
turned

Walnut sideboard with inlaid decoration of butterflies, sunflowers, leaves and six painted panels depicting signs of the Zodiac. The raised back has a dentilled cornice and frieze, painted with butterflies and sunflowers over four panels depicting from left to right Aquarius, Gemini, Virgo and Libra, with four further painted leaf panels below, interspaced by small plinths. The sideboard has a moulded top over two astragal glazed doors enclosing shelves, flanked on each side by a double niche over a panelled door. There is a panel depicting Leo to the left and Aries to the right, flanking an open recess below on square tapered feet.

The superstructure is essentially framed and panelled with applied mouldings. The plinths are secured from the back by three screws each while the painted panels are fitted from the back and are retained with wooden slips, made from holly. The superstructure is now screwed to the base with screws. The base is also essentially a frame and panel construction with the back panels housed into rebates in the styles and rails and screwed in place. The front is divided by four vertical posts into which the sides and central dividers are housed. The doors are hung on vertical posts. The moulding, arcading, and decoration appears to be glued into position.

Height: 150cm
Width: 146.5cm
Depth: 33cm

storage

Label text, Geffrye Museum, date unknown:
Glazed cabinet, mahogany, designed by Lewis F. Day, with painted panels of the signs of the zodiac by George McCulloch, 1880.

Florence Edith Strode