Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2016.

Images(2)

New photography by Pat Cagney captured with a digital camera. Image taken after conservation.

Music Cabinet

Designer Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Dutch (with special British denizenship), 1836 - 1912)

Manufacturer Johnstone, Norman & Co. (English)

CultureEnglish

Date1884-85

MediumEbony, box-and rosewood, cedar, ivory, mother-of-pearl, abalone shell, marble and brass

DimensionsOverall: 79 x 92 1/2 x 18 in. (200.7 x 235 x 45.7 cm)

InscribedConjoined monogram: "HGM" at each end of the side.

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number84.101

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 216

DescriptionMusic cabinet made for the music room of Henry G. Marquand, New York city, circa 1883. Cabinet is in the Greek taste and has three open section steps beyond side ones and has a border of ivory and mother-of-pearl flowers across the top supported by applied pilasters with rosettes of ivory. Surmounted by an open cupboard in the form of a Greek temple with four columnar supports of reeded tapered columns resting on ivory plinths. The entire cabinet is veneered in ebony. Surmounted by ivory Ionic capitals. Above this is a pediment inlaid with ivory, mixed woods, cedar, boxwood and ivory mother-of-pearl in various designs (including lyre). Panel of green marble set in pediment. Central shelf of this area continues over the side cabinets to form a top for open areas on top. Side cabinets and this shelf face is inlaid with ivory in Greek key pattern. These open cabinets have ivory moldings and abalone shell insets. There are screw holes on top of each which indicates some missing decorations. This cabinet was a part of the furnishings for the music room of Henry Marquand's house in New York. The whole room was commissioned from the painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. The ceiling was by Frederick Leighton. Edward Poynter did the painting above the keyboard of the grand piano. The furniture was executed by Johnstone, Norman and Co., London. Numerous damages to finish.

Label TextSir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, designer British, b. Netherlands, 1836–1912 Johnstone, Norman & Co. London, England Music Cabinet, 1884–85 Ebony, boxwood, rosewood, cedar, ivory, mother-of-pearl, abalone shell, marble and brass Crowned with an ancient temple structure and delicately inlayed with ebony, ivory, and mother-of-pearl, this cabinet is a masterpiece of the Greek revival style. Lawrence Alma-Tadema originally designed the piece as part of a furniture suite for the music room of Henry G. Marquand’s New York City mansion. A railroad magnate and founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Marquand conceived of the house as a series of rooms decorated in a range of historical styles, including a Moorish smoking room, a Japanese chamber, and an opulent Greek revival music room. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 84.101 ProvenanceHenry G. Marquand, New York, from 1885; Sale, American Art Galleries, New York, January 31, 1903; Mr. Haan, from 1903; American Art Association Sale, New York, October 15, 1927;(...); On loan from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., to the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia, 1980; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., to the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia, 1984.; Exhibition History"Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. "Cameo Performances: Masterpieces of Cameo Glass from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA., June 29, 2008 - December 30, 2012. “Alma-Tadema and the Marquand Music Room,” Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, June 4 – September 4, 2017. Published ReferencesDaniëlle O. Kisluk-Grosheide, "The Marquand Mansion," _Metropolitan Museum Journal_ 29 (1994), Fig. 14, 160. Black and white illustration. Kathleen M. Morris and Alexis Goodin, editors, _Orchestrating Elegance: Alma-Tadema and the Marquand Music Room_, Clark Art Institute, distributed by Yale University Press (2017), Pl. 12, Cat. 44, pg. 129, Fig. 111, Cat. 44, pg. 118 (detail).