| TITLE
| Egyptian Elephant Folio Cabinet |
CREATORS | Bartlett, John Russell, 1805-1886
Catherwood, Frederick
Gladding, Kinsley C.
Millard & Lee Cabinetmakers | | DATE | 1838-1840 |
| DIMENSIONS | 39 x 108.75 x 65 in. |
| ORIGINAL FORMAT | Cabinet |
| MEDIUM | Paint, pine, walnut, and canvas |
| PHYSICAL NOTE | Egyptian symbols and faux hieroglyphics painted on cabinet designed to store elephant folio volumes inspired by le Description de l’Egypte; cabinet doors open to display 7 drawers at either end |
| DONOR | John Russell Bartlett |
| LOCATION | Providence Athenæum: Philbrick Rare Book Room |
Bibliophile John Russell Bartlett was a major figure in the history of the Providence Athenæum. A co-founder of the 1831 Providence Athenæum (one of the progenitors of the current Athenæum as we know it today), he served as its first librarian and cataloger of books, and was a member of the committee that oversaw acquisitions. He especially encouraged the purchase of important elephant and double elephant folios, including the imperial edition of Description de l’Égypte, a richly illustrated, multi-volume series that traced the history of ancient and modern Egypt. Yet such large tomes - between two and three feet long - demanded special accommodations.
For the Athenæum’s copy of Description de l’Égypte, which was acquired in 1838, Bartlett and English architect Frederick Catherwood designed this special cabinet to store it. The cabinet was intended to evoke an Egyptian temple, with exterior decoration specifically drawn from plates in the Description, fusing the cabinet’s exterior with its contents.
Lancaster, Jane.
Inquire Within: A Social History of the Providence Athenæum Since 1753. Providence Athenæum, 2003, p. 64-9.
"Egyptian Elephant Folio Cabinet."
The Providence Athenæum, 2019,
www.providenceathenaeum.org/collections/art-collection/decorative-arts-works-on-paper/. Accessed 26 June 2019.
Monkhouse, Christopher. “A TEMPLE FOR TOMES: THE EGYPTIAN ELEPHANT FOLIO CABINET IN THE PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM.”
Furniture History, vol. 26, 1990, pp. 157–167.
JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/23407151.