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Edward William Godwin. Made by Collinson & Lock. A fine quality Anglo Japanese mahogany and astragal glazed cabinet with satinwood line inlay. The upper gallery with semi-circular sides supporting a half stepped shelf, with vertical staggered uprights to the back above and below the shelf. The lower uprights are perfectly positioned to be directly inline with the glazing bars on doors. Dental moulding below the top, with the doors opening to reveal the original plush velvet lined interior and a fixed central shelf. Stood on tapering with shaped feet. This cabinet is a pure example of E W Godwin's gifted ability to design in the Anglo-Japanese style that he led the world in. Stamped inside 'Collinson and Lock - London - 5689'. Collinson and Lock of London 'Art Furnishers', founded with the partnership of F.G. Collinson and G.J. Lock, former employees of Jackson and Graham. Designers employed by the firm included T.E. Collcutt, the architect of their premises; E.W. Godwin, who was paid a retainer to produce exclusive designs for the company from 1872 to 1874, H.W. Batley and Stephen Webb. They made furniture for the new Law Courts to designs by G.E. Street, along with Gillows and Holland and Sons, and began decoration of the Savoy Theatre in 1881. Jackson and Graham was taken over in 1885, at the time when the firm had moved to Oxford Street and begun to focus on expensive commissions for grandiose London houses. The firm was taken over by Gillows in 1897. The firm of Collinson and Lock was established in London in the third quarter of the 19th century and quickly achieved both commercial success and a leading position in the field of design. In 1871 the firm issued an impressive illustrated catalogue of 'Artistic furniture', with plates by J. Moyar Smith, assistant to Christopher Dresser, and in 1873 was trading from extensive newly built premises in St Bride Street. The firm continued to produce very high quality items of furniture and soon began to experiment with new materials and designs, becoming especially renowned for their distinctive combinations of rosewood and ivory and their intricate Italianate arabesques, traditional figures and scrolling foliage. This form of decoration clearly points toward the involvement of Stephen Webb, Collinson and Locks chief designer who was later appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. E.W.Godwin was their most important designer and so advanced were his designs in the Japanese style.
