It is possible that this cabinet was intended for Pownall Hall, but for for some reason not used there and remained in Mackmurdo’s possession. The cabinet is one of the Century Guild’s most ambitious pieces of furniture and was part of its display at the Manchester Royal Jubilee Exhibition in 1887. It was reviewed in ‘The Journal of Decorative Art (November, 1887) where ‘the simplicity and largeness of design’ was praised.
It is made of satinwood and carved mahogany with brass fittings and painted with vine tendrils, leaves and bunches of grapes. The inscription on cupboard doors is from Shelley’s ‘Prometheus Unbound’ : ‘nor heed nor see/what things they be/ but of these create he can/ forms more real than living man’. The upper section having a flat projecting cornice , supported at either end by single free-standing square pilaster with decorative carved capital, and three recessed cupboards – the two outer ones with hinged double doors, the centre one with a single door. The cupboard doors are fitted with brass keyhole plates with decorative repousse work. The interior of the cupboards lined with mahogany and furnished with mahogany shelves (detachable). The lower section contains a large central drawer, with two handles of similar repousse work, flanked at either side by a smaller cupboard, each with similar keyhole plates and tear-drop handles, the bottom coved and resting on a deep step base.
