A Queen Anne Scarlet and Gilt-Japanned Double-Dome Bureau Cabinet,

English, circa  1720

This exceptional double-dome bureau cabinet is a rare and supremely elegant expression of early 18th-century English taste for the exotic and fantastical. Lavishly japanned in scarlet and gold, the cabinet is a striking embodiment of the fascination with the East that swept European courts and aristocracy in the wake of expanding trade with China and Japan through the East India Company.

By the time this piece was made in the first quarter of the 18th century, lacquerwares, silks, tea, and porcelain were flooding into England, igniting a craze among the wealthy for objects that conjured visions of an imagined Orient. The decoration presents a characteristically pastoral and whimsical vision of Eastern life.

A closely related example, supplied circa 1720 to John Meller for Erddig Hall, Wales, remains in situ and is attributed to the London cabinetmaker John Belchier. The Erddig cabinet shares many features with the present piece, including its double-domed form, scarlet japanning, and interior architecture.