AN IMPORTANT EARLY AUSTRALIAN CEDAR AND CASUARINA CROSS BANDED BOW FRONTED SIX LEGGED SIDEBOARD OF GRAND PROPORTIONS, ATTRIBUTED TO LAWRENCE BUTLER, CIRCA 1805

• Lot Sold $170,000 (Hammer Price)
• $204,000 (Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium)

the rectangular single panel cedar top with casuarina cross-banding within pine stringing with a later brass gallery (removable), above a central drawer and cupboard doors enclosing a deep shelf to hold a china chamber pot, with single curved drawers above deep drawers to either side, divided vertically by four square tapering legs inlaid with line inlay and oval medallions, decorated throughout with casuarina veneer of varying cuts, thus displaying the different qualities of the wood.

CONSTRUCTION This sideboard is constructed in the same manner as those being produced in England and Ireland during the preceding decades. The thickness of the carcase timber, the use of a single panel of timber for the back six legs only, the applied veneers on the front and the dove tailing and blocking supports to the drawers, the back bottom rebates followed by an upward series of tenon joints on either side of the centre back panel all reflect this consistency; 197CM WIDE, 84CM DEEP, 104CM HIGH

NOTE 'Lawrence Butler (1750-1820) was Australia's first furniture maker of note. Born in Ireland, he was transported for his participation in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and arrived in Sydney in 1802 on the 'Atlas', where he was immediately employed in the Lumber Yard. Granted a conditional pardon in 1813, his first commercial advertisement can be found in the Sydney Gazette, 2 November 1811, and describes him as a cabinetmaker and upholsterer at Pitt Street, the address at which he remained until his death. His workshop was of some size, employing several journeymen and apprentices' Australian Furniture, Pictorial History and Dictionary 1788-1938, Kevin Fahy and Andrew Simpson, Casuarina Press, Sydney, page 32.

It is interesting to note the association between Rickard Brooks (owner of Denham Court from 1812-1833) and Lawrence Butler (cabintemaker). Both arrived in New South Wales onboard the 'Atlas', Butler as a convict and Brooks as the ship's captain.

This sideboard is one of only a handful known to exist from this early period and it is therefore a highly significant piece in terms of the history of Australian furniture.

LITERATURE For further reading relating to the appearance of brass galleries on Colonial sideboards see: Australiana Magazine, Vol. 25, No 4, page 147, plate 4.

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Richmond, Tasmania; Tasmanian Homestead; Sotheby's Fine Australian and International Paintings, 15-16 August 2000, lot 372