A pair of French stained beech 'Japonism' display cabinets attributed to Gabriel Viardot, with gilt bronze mounts, each with a Chinese style pagoda top centred with an emerging dragon, with oriental incised decoration and panels, with a glazed door enclosing a plush lined interior with shelves and a drawer, decorated with reticulated brackets, on scroll feet and later Shepherd castors, late 19th / early 20th century, 195cm high, 98.3cm wide, 47cm deep. (2)
Gabriel Viardot (1830-1906) was a famous Parisian cabinetmaker and designer making furniture in the Chinese and Japanese styles. He mixed many East Asian decorative elements and his ideas were fuelled by French Colonial trading links with the Far East. In 1889 he won a gold medal at the Paris International Exhibition.