A Cabinet-Maker's office
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
On public display.
- Checked
- 9 days ago
- In this state since
- Sep 25, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the painting
Object Type
Paintings showing the interiors of offices and workshops are rare in Britain before the end of the 18th century. The increasing number of wealthy manufacturers and entrepreneurs supplying the luxury trades meant that portraits, hitherto mainly the preserve of the aristocratic members of society, were commissioned by wealthy members of a new and burgeoning middle class. Although the conventional studio backgrounds to portraits were still used, sometimes the workshop or the office was employed as a setting by the more confident sitters for the portraits. They were proud of the lucrative businesses they had built up.
Subjects Depicted
Read on
The painting shows a cabinet-maker pointing to a design for a commode and bookcase which has been coloured for presentation to a client. He is leaning on the bookkeeper's desk, which supports the order book and various account books. The figure to the right, pen in hand, is probably the bookkeeper. The simple panelled room contains a desk, stool and plain bookcase for housing the records of the cabinet-maker's business. Only a substantial business, such as that managed by Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779), would require a full-time book-keeper.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- P.1-1961
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 9 days ago
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
