Sideboard and Wine Cabinet
1859
Medium
Pine and mahogany, painted and gilded; iron straps; and metal mounts
Dimensions
126.7 × 151.5 × 57.8 cm (49 7/8 × 59 5/8 × 22 3/4 in.)
Classification
furniture
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
152018
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
William Burges was one of the preeminent architect-designers of the 19th-century Gothic Revival. The patterns and designs on this cabinet draw inspiration from the tracery and stained glass of Gothic cathedrals, as well as medieval manuscript illumination. In contrast to the reverent approach of fellow archictect-designer Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, Burges’s interpretation of the Middle Ages is more playful and humorous. The scenes on the cabinet’s four projecting panels are painted in bril...