Sideboard by E. W. Godwin
A black, Japanese-inspired sideboard in which empty space and straight lines are the whole decoration.
The architect E. W. Godwin (1833–1886) designed the sideboard for his own home and had further examples made. It is counted among the first wholly modern pieces of furniture, long before Modernism. One is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Materials: Ebonised mahogany, silver-plated fittings, embossed Japanese paper in the panels
Manufacture: Slender posts and shelves joined into a framework; the doors panelled with embossed paper.
The piece is built of straight members and open compartments, like a Japanese cabinet.
The black surface and simple silver fittings in place of carving.