THE WATERLOO CABINET

THE WATERLOO CABINET

A FINE REGENCY WATERLOO ELM COLLECTOR'S TABLE CABINET

POSSIBLY BY THOMAS CHIPPENDALE THE YOUNGER, C.1818-20

the stepped hinged top surmounted by a carved English lion sitting on an oval plinth, his paw resting on the French standard and with a laurel wreath, revealing a vacant interior with an inset brass plaque inscribed 'The Elm of Waterloo, June 18th 1815', above a pair of panelled doors with a brass Bramah style lock, stamped 'G R Patent', enclosing eight mahogany sliding shelves (four later replacements) with panelled sides each with a gilt brass bracket and cannon carry handle, on a moulded base and on paw feet headed by anthemion and foliage scrolls, on a later stand (2)

74cm high, 41cm square (cabinet), 133cm high, 43.3cm square (overall)

Provenance

Purchased from a house sale in Kent in the 1920s (presumably Halstead Place).

Sold anonymously by Phillips, Fine Furniture, Clocks, Rugs and Works of Art, 28th March 1997, lot 237 to the present vendor.

Literature

See Geoffrey de Bellaigue, 'The Waterloo Elm' in Furniture History Journal XIV, 1978, pp. 14-18, for a discussion of thr Waterloo Elm tree and the chair made for the Prince Regent.

Catalogue Note

The ancient Waterloo Elm stood on elevated ground overlooking the fields of the Battle of Waterloo. It marked the very spot from which Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, surveyed the French troops before defeating Napoleon in 1815. The tree soon became a celebrated landmark and a powerful emblem of Liberty. Patriotic visitors made pilgrimages to the site, often removing small fragments as keepsakes. By 1818, the once-mighty elm had been reduced to little more than a stripped trunk.

As the remains were being felled by its owner, they were purchased by John George Children (1777-1852) , Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Upon returning to England, Children commissioned Thomas Chippendale Junior to create a triumphal throne from the timber for the Prince Regent, delivered in 1821. A second chair was made for Children’s daughter, Anna, and was later presented to the Duke of Wellington. Children also sold portions of the remaining timber to the Duke of Rutland, who commissioned another chair, now preserved at Belvoir Castle.

Anna later recorded that at Halstead Place, Kent, her father kept ‘a small stand made … out of the portion of the tree with the bark on … a work table and a cabinet for minerals’—all fashioned from the historic elm.

Following Children’s death in 1852, Anna inherited the estate. Halstead Place and its contents were dispersed in 1920, though no surviving inventory lists the furnishings. The present cabinet was originally acquired at a house sale in Kent in the 1920s. The stand and work table mentioned by Anna remain untraced.

A very similar cabinet made from the Waterloo Elm was sold by Christie's, Important English Furniture and Carpets, 6th July 2000, lot 10 for £25,580 (including premium) and a reading table was also sold by Christie's, Out of the Ordinary: The Discerning and Individual Taste of Harris Lindsay and Christopher Gibbs, 10th May 2006, lot 140 for £38,400 (including premium).