Cabinet
Item
Title
Cabinet
Creator
George Franklin Parker
Date
1903
Dimensions
33 ¾ x 16 ½ x 10 inches
Medium
White Oak and brass hardware
Credit line
Collection of Drs. Cynthia and Timothy McGinn
Description
Stickley likely owned this cabinet when he published a photograph of it in the August 1903 issue of The Craftsman. There it was described as "a useful and decorative little cabinet... intended to hold a few favorite books, and pieces of pottery, bronze or carving; while it further contains a closed compartment in which to place some specially valued object." Plans for the cabinet were published in the November 1905 issue of The Craftsman, albeit with a simpler lock. Originally, this cabinet may have been painted as the photograph shows none of the prominent wood grain visible today.
George F. Parker (1861-1906) was listed in the 1901 Taunton City Directory as a "burnisher," and his association with the metal trades is evident in the fine hammering of the lock and hinges on this cabinet. The sources of Parker's design have not been located, though the graceful curves of the cabinet and hardware suggest an English precedent. Liberty was retailing cabinets similar to this as early as the 1890s, and Stickley even published a version of this form by the Liverpool Guild in 1905, demonstrating how widespread this idea was by the time Parker crafted his exquisite example.
George F. Parker (1861-1906) was listed in the 1901 Taunton City Directory as a "burnisher," and his association with the metal trades is evident in the fine hammering of the lock and hinges on this cabinet. The sources of Parker's design have not been located, though the graceful curves of the cabinet and hardware suggest an English precedent. Liberty was retailing cabinets similar to this as early as the 1890s, and Stickley even published a version of this form by the Liverpool Guild in 1905, demonstrating how widespread this idea was by the time Parker crafted his exquisite example.
Provenance
Exhibited at the 1903 Arts and Crafts Exhibition at the Craftsman Building in Syracuse; Gustav Stickley (probably by 1903, no later than 1905); thence by descent.