Chinoiserie Campaign Chest with Brass Mounts and Hand Painting

• Provenance - A term used to describe the provable history of an antique or work of art, and thus an additional aid to verifying its authenticity. Provenance can have an inflating effect on the price of an item, particularly if the provenance relates to the early settlement of Australia, a famous person, or royalty. Less significant are previous sales of the item through an auction house or dealer.
• Campaign Furniture - Most of the campaign furniture on the market is associated with the time of the British Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries when there was a high demand from military officers, administrators and colonists.
  
  Campaign furniture is demountable, through clever use of wooden screws and sometimes metal hinges, so that it can disassembled and then packed into lots of manageable size for ease of movement by ship or animal between postings or camps.
• Mounts - Mounts are used to describe bronze, brass and ormolu adornments on furniture especially quality furniture in the rococo and classical revival style, and are also the cabinet makers' name for the metal fittings on furniture, such as hinges, locks and handles, and metal edges and guards which protect furniture from damage.
• Chinoiserie - Furniture and decorative items decorated in imitation of a Western interpretation of the Chinese style. The Chinoiserie style first became popular in the late 17th century, though there were frequent revivals, notably by Chippendale (hence 'Chinese Chippendale') during the Regency period, and the Anglo-Japanese style in the second half of the 19th century.
  
  The ubiquitous 'willow pattern' is the most common 'Chinese' theme used in porcelain, while on furniture the Chinoiserie style usually has black or red painted and lacquered decoration, though the hallmark of the furniture style is the use of fretwork in geometrical patterns, pagodas and other decorative forms.
  
  Japonaiseries, as the name implies, are motifs in imitation of the Japanese taste.
  
  See also "Chinese Chippendale".

This item has been included into following indexes:

• chests of drawers, material
  • Chinoiserie 24
  • painted 68
• chests of drawers, style - campaign and military 130
• furniture, material or decoration - lacquered 260
• furniture, period or style - Chinoiserie 271