misdiagnosed case of woodworm!!

[mariok54]

Hi,

just thought that I'd share this little tale with you and also pick your brains.
A few months back my partner returned home with this corner cabinet wrapped up in half a dozen bin liners.... allegedly to stop the worms from escaping!!
She had been visiting 'acquaintances' who has just moved into a 'new' house. There were a few bits of furniture left behind, one being the cabinet, which had been  taken down and stored in the garage because it was infested with woodworm. They passed it onto us because they knew we lived in an old house.
My first reaction when she told.me was obviously 'Thanks, but get it out of the house!!!'
When we unwrapped it in the garden I had to laugh. What they took for woodworm holes (literally thousands of 'em) were in fact hand tooled decoration around the figures. You probably can't make them out from my pics. Did we tell them? What do you think, after all, they're only acquaintances!
What puzzles me is the design, the date  is evident, as it's there for all to see, but the style doesn't look very English. Anyone any ideas?
Thanks
Mario

[mariok54]

Sorry about the duplicate post, the first didn't seem to want to load, so I did a fresh one taking one photo off, ended up with two posts!

[talesofthesevenseas]

I can tell you one thing about it for sure. The animal pair shown on the front are of a mythical creature called the hippocampus. Famed carousel carver Denzel made what I think is the most beautiful portrayal of this creature ever:



These were the horses of Poseidon. There's some good info and photos here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocamp

Example from ancient Roman mosaic:



and the Trevi fountain in Rome:



You have a BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL piece there. I had to wipe the drool off my keyboard. Love the way the top looks like your little cabinet is flexing its muscles!

[mariok54]

Hi Tales,

Thanks for that.. It is beautiful and it beggars belief that anyone could make such a fundamental error... But you won't hear me complain.

I hear that you can buy pelican bibs on Ebay, save your keyboard

[waywardangler]

Woodworm? There is quite a bit of stippling in the background around the carvings.  Amazing that someone could mistake that for woodworm.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Especially since it only occurs in the background, LOL... They would have to be choosey woodworms!

[Oceans64]

Hmm..  What was this used for?  My first thought was spice cabinet but those have drawers (which I would assume you would have mentioned)
Looks like it was lockable?

[mariok54]

Hi Oceans,

It is lockable, with the original key and still turning smoothly. There is a single shelf inside, but this is a later replacement/addition, probably c 50 years ago.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Construction photos showing joins, nails, dovetailing etc. would help a lot to be able to date it.

[Oceans64]

<must poke fun at tales...>

The date on the front is helpful too.... hehehehehe....  

(says the person who googled wall cabinet right after asking what it was and found out indeed it was a wall cabinet! lol)

[mariok54]

Hi Oceans,
I'm glad that you pointed that out ... I'm too much of a gent 
It is quite a big beast, c 37" long ... and although I initially didn't think it was English, the acorns in the design could suggest that it is... but I'm no expert.

[talesofthesevenseas]

LOL! I was so enamored with the hippocampii (not sure how to correctly pluralize these!) that I completely overlooked the 1899 staring me in the face!!!

[talesofthesevenseas]

Y'know, I'm wondering if this could be a pistol safe. Makes sense from a functional standpoint- Solid, locking, hangs on the wall out of reach of kids but still looks nice, and it is not unlike some of the Victorian ones that come up on when you google antique pistol safe. It's just a guess on my part.

[mariok54]

Hi Tales,

The only problem is that I'm in England, and I'm not sure whether there would be many pistol safes around then ...
Perhaps it was for keeping the arsenic safe, and out of reach of the children... or maybe the chocolate biscuits?

[Oceans64]

I tried searching the significance of acorns, oak leaves, and hippocampus as a grouping and didn't come up with much (altho my Google skills can be questionable).  I did come up with this.  It's a mirror, thought to English, hanging in a historical New England home...  The mirror probably dates somewhere around 1808 after the owner moved in... I know this is much earlier but..

"The mirror form was adapted to serve as a base for the plethora of neoclassical decorative elements popular in the early nineteenth century and features acanthus leaves, grapes, balls, oak-and-acorn clusters, and a hippocampus."

Pic is at the bottom of the page

http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/rundlet-may-house/collections-on-display