A most magnificent chiffonier, and without doubt the finest we have ever had the pleasure of handling. The quality of this piece is second to none. Every material used, the quality of the construction, the degree of detail included and the very design itself are the best we have ever seen.

Of course it is not possible with every piece, but on rare occasions like this, it is wonderful to be able to state that we will never see a better example.

English, Circa 1790

GEORGE D. WIDENER, JR. (1889-1971)
The chiffonier was owned by the Philadelphia born George D. Widener, Jr., the son of the financier George D. Widener, who perished on the Titanic in 1912, and Eleanor Elkins. As heir to the family fortune amassed by his grandfather, P.A.B. Widener, George was successfully devoted to horse racing and breeding, largely through the influence of his uncle, Joseph Widener. Over the course of his career, Widener and his wife won over 1,243 races and $9 million in purses, and horses bred by the Wideners won over $16 million. Widener was also a great philanthropist, serving as trustee of museums, art centers, hospitals, universities and scientific institutions in Philadelphia, New York and Washington. A significant benefactor to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, he bequeathed numerous magnificent objects from his collection including the spectacular carved mahogany commode supplied by Thomas Chippendale to Raynham Park, Norfolk (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol .l, p.289).

Art and philanthropy were of great interest to the Widener family. George's uncle, Joseph E. Widener (d. 1943), devoted his energies to expanding the family's art collection that was begun by his father, P.A.B. Widener, and which he displayed for the public in the galleries of Lynnewood, the family's vast estate designed by Horace Trumbauer. In 1939, Joseph Widener offered his family's collection to the National Gallery of Art in memory of his father. The Widener gift was announced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Gallery's opening ceremony in 1941 and installed shortly thereafter.

The chiffonier with its rich veneers and finely executed details may have been executed by George Simson (4.1839) who established his workshop at St. Paul's Churchyard in 1787 and subscribed to Thomas Sheraton's Drawing Book and Cabinet Dictionary.

While many of his pieces are labeled, very little is known about his commissions. Some of his pieces featured marquetry and painted decoration such as a table with a central roundel depicting Venus and Cupid. He is accredited with the 'Weeks cabinets', a group incorporating clocks and mechanical curiosities with similar reeded outset corners and lustrous timbers (see C. Gilbert, 'Some Weeks Cabinets Reconsidered', The Connoisseur, May 1971). One from the group is in the collections at the City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham (illustrated in R. Fastnedge, Sheraton Furniture, London, 1983, fig.75).

Other chiffoniers of similar form and inlaid decoration include an example from the collection of the Dukes of Norfolk illustrated in situ at Arundel Park, Sussex (C. Musgrave, 'Arundel Park, Sussex', The Connoisseur, June 1963, p. 80, pl. 14). A labeled chiffonier with secretaire drawer and of slightly more severe form is illustrated in C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked Furniture 1700-1840, 1996, p. 422, fig. 840. Closely related cabinets of varying form but all with the same distinctive shaped and pearl-inlaid paneled drawer fronts include an example illustrated in R. Fastnedge, op. cit., p. 191, fig. 63; another in F. L. Hinckley, The More Significant Regency Furniture 1800-1830, New York, 1991,p. 69,fig. 91

The figural prints were executed by the Irish artist and engraver Adam Buck (d. 1833) who was established in London from the 1790s and published a book on Grecian vases in 1812. The medallions, executed in the 'antique' or Pompeiian manner, represent sacrificial ceremonies at the altar of love.

Height: 50" 122cm

Width: 42" 108cm

Depth: 12" 32cm