Secretary Cabinet (Primary Title)
Secrétaire Cabinet (Former Title)
George Washington Jack, American, 1855 - 1931 (Designer)
Morris & Company, British (London), 1881–1940 (Manufacturer)
This neo-Georgian secretary cabinet was designed by the American-born, Scottish-trained George Washington Jack. A gifted carver, Jack began his professional career in 1880 at the London architectural office of Philip Webb. Together with the English designer-reformer William Morris, Webb and his colleagues created a cutting-edge, internationally influential Arts and Crafts style based on notions of handcraft and the richness of the historic past. By 1890, Jack had replaced Webb as chief furniture designer for Morris and Company. During the course of his tenure, he designed some of the most elaborate furniture ever produced by the firm. One of only six documented examples, this secretary represents the best and most artistic of Morris and Company’s production. Boasting elaborate and varied inlays of naturalistic and geometric ornament, the exuberance of its details is held in check by the foursquare proportions of its boxlike cabinet and four-legged stand. First published in 1889, the design debuted in London the same year. By 1896, it was still being praised as “one of the finest pieces of furniture executed in England since the last century.” This version may have been commissioned for gold-mining millionaire William Knox D’Arcy. From 1888 until 1896, Morris and company was engaged in decorating D’Arcy’s Middlesex home, Stanmore Hall.
Stamped: "Morris & Co., 449 Oxford S.W.", registration number "1195"
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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