South African Design: Past & Present

Timed Online Auction, 13 June - 9 July 2025

Cape Interiors: Furniture, Metalware, Silver & Glass
About the Session

This sale traces the heritage of South African design across centuries of creative expression highlighting diverse design objects through two sessions. Uniting the sessions is a celebration of the versatility of materials - metal, wood, glass, clay, fibre - and how artists and artisans have transformed them over time into works of wonder, rich in both tradition and innovation.

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  • A Cape stinkwood, beefwood and ebony armoire, late 18th century
  • A Cape stinkwood, beefwood and ebony armoire, late 18th century
  • A Cape stinkwood, beefwood and ebony armoire, late 18th century
  • A Cape stinkwood, beefwood and ebony armoire, late 18th century
  • A Cape stinkwood, beefwood and ebony armoire, late 18th century
  • A Cape stinkwood, beefwood and ebony armoire, late 18th century
  • A Cape stinkwood, beefwood and ebony armoire, late 18th century
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Lot Estimate
ZAR 250 000 - 300 000
Current Bid
Starting at ZAR 250 000
Location
Cape Town
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About this Item

A Cape stinkwood, beefwood and ebony armoire, late 18th century the arched moulded pediment above a pair of conforming panelled doors enclosing three shelves with three short drawers below, the lower section with three graduated long drawers, on bracket feet, with silver escutcheons, Johannes Casparus Lotter Snr, restorations, 246cm high, 161,5cm wide, 65cm deep

Provenance

Henry Hermann Auctioneers, The Collection of the late Sir Abe Bailey, Bart.,KCMG.,Rust-en-Vrede, Muizenberg, Cape Town, 29 January 1951, lot 144.

Stephan Welz & Co, Cape Town, 17 October 2007, lot 360.

Notes

Due to their size and excellent craftmanship, big cabinets or armoires held pride of place in wealthy Cape homes. Most of the surviving armoires date from the second half of the 18th century, when a number of elaborate double-storey homes were built in the Table Valley. The Rococo taste predominated with only the decorative details reflecting stylistic changes. They were usually made of a combination of indigenous and exotic timbers and the use of ebony and silver escutcheons seen in this cupboard creates a striking and decorative effect.

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