Superb James Plunckett Art Furniture Makers Side Cabinet

A stunning and unusual Aesthetic Movement rosewood and ivorine inlaid side cabinet from the well respected James Plunckett & Co. Art Furniture Manufacturers of Warwick (1886 to 1905). The top section having a breakfront cornice above the ogee moulded frieze with superb quality inlaid floral and scrolling ivorine inlay. The open rounded back with applied painted decoration. Below the centre 2 door cupboard with astragal glazing bars and flanked by domed recesses with gold velvet linings, to each side are quality ivorine inlaid panels and the whole top supported on various square and inlaid columns. The base section having a rectangular shaped top with outline ivorine stinging above the conforming moulded and inlaid edge. The centre drawer retaining the original unusual oval brass handles and flanked by 2 cupboards both having very good ivorine inlaid panels. The whole raised on 8 square tapering legs with ivorine inlay and joined with useful under tiers.
HISTORY OF JAMES PLUNCKETT. Having had various partners in his company, operated as a sole trader from 1886-1905, the year of his death. He advertised his work as ‘manufacturers of rich carved furniture’, trading as ‘James Plucknett & Co Art Furniture Manufacturers’. His commissions included The Royal Pavilion for the Royal Warwick Show of 1892, and The Urquhart Commission, details of which are recorded in considerable detail of the Furniture History Society annual report of 1996 (pp159-179), which contains images showing similarities between the caryatids of our table and the Urquhart Commission.
James Plucknett formed a partnership with Frederick Collier in the 1860s, with a showroom in Leamington Spa, and workshops in Warwick where Ambrose Heal was an apprentice. The firm advertised themselves as Collier and Plucknett: upholsterers, cabinet-makers and decorators by appointment to Her Majesty, and Manufacturers of rich carved furniture in the peculiar styles characteristic of the Gothic, Tudor and Elizabethan agesFrom adverts in trade directories the firm gained a wider reputation across the United Kingdom, with national commissions supplementing work from local families. Their best known works were for William Gibbs, who commissioned John Norton to remodel his country house, Tyntesfield. William Cubitt & Co. were the sub-contracted builders, whose foreman was George Plucknett, a relative of James Plucknett.[2] Today, Tyntesfield is a National Trust property, and as well as items of furniture visitors can view the fully fitted Collier and Plucknett bathroom of Matilda Blanche Gibbs.[3]
After Collier retired and the old firm was dissolved in January 1880, Plucknett went into partnership with James Steevens and they traded as Plucknett and Steevens. The partnership lasted six years and included the 1884 commission for the Town Hall in Leamington Spa. Plucknett traded independently from 1886 and in 1892 provided the furnishings for The Royal Pavilion at the Royal Agricultural Show.The firm ceased trading in 1908 and the remaining stock was auctioned off.