Sideboard

Richly decorated with carvings of game, birds, fruit, foliage and mythical figures, this sideboard is a rare and striking example of New Zealand-made Renaissance Revival furniture.

The work is attributed to William White, an Auckland cabinetmaker and carver who claimed to have spent many years in Rome before immigrating to New Zealand in the 1860s. White is known to have created at least two other large sideboards in Elizabethan style in the 1870s, both of which were sent to London for sale (see New Zealand Herald, 14 March 1873). White taught his son to carve and the two worked together in a workshop on Wellesley Street. The Daily Southern Cross wrote in 1871 that their work bore evidence ‘of the chisel having been used with a free, bold, and masterly hand,’ and that ‘at first sight the eye of the beholder is amazed.’

The Alter of Gastronomy
The imagery chosen for this sideboard represents the plentiful bounties of the natural world. Comparable pieces were constructed in Australia, the United States and Europe from the 1850s and as on this sideboard, hunt and harvest themes were common. For comparison, see Alexander Roux’s 1853 sideboard held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a prototype of which was exhibited at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in New York.

Sometimes called ‘the alter of gastronomy’, the sideboard was the most important piece of furniture in the Victorian dining room - one of the main reception rooms of the house.  Originally a highly functional side table, sideboards became increasingly elaborate during the Victorian era, with decorative carving and high backs designed to frame displays of ornamental china.

Strathbogie
This sideboard was installed in the dining room of Strathbogie, the 4,500 sq ft home of William and Annie Henry, in the early twentieth century. After the First World War the Government purchased 3758 acres of the Strathbogie block for soldier-settlers, and according to the Waikato Times William acted as a ‘father’ to what was called the ‘Henry Soldier Settlement’. Meetings, dances and church services were held in William and Annie’s home, which, although small by country house standards, was significantly larger than the average early-twentieth-century home. Visitors to Strathbogie surely could not have missed this impressive statement piece.

References

• Banham, Joanna. 1995. Victorian Interior Style. London: Studio Editions Ltd.
• Cottrell, William. 2019. Personal communication with curator.
• Hodgson, Terence. 1991. The Big House: Grand & Opulent Houses in Colonial New Zealand. Auckland: Random Century.
• Metropolitan Museum of Art. ‘Sideboard ca. 1853’. The Metropolitan Museum of Art website.
• Miller, Judith ed. 1998. Miller’s Antiques Encyclopedia. London: Millers.
• Nicholson (née Mellsop), Rosalie-Ann. 2019. Personal communication with curator.
• Symonds, R.W. and B.B. Whineray. 1962. Victorian Furniture. London: Country Life Ltd.