CIRCA 1785

In his Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer's Guide of 1794, George Hepplewhite illustrates four vase-shaped knifecases (plate 39). He describes them as pieces of 'universal utility...usually made of satin or other light-colored wood'. Margaret Jourdain notes that the production of such pieces became a specialized manufacture; wooden urns were liable to shrinkage and only certain cabinetmakers were prepared to produce them (see English Furniture, the Georgian Period, 1750-1830, p. 185-6). This pair may be compared with one illustrated in Jourdain (op. cit., p. 192, pl. 159), which has similar stringing on a satinwood ground.