A rare mahogany and engraved brass inlaid collectors cabinet

A rare mahogany and engraved brass inlaid collectors cabinet, made by James Hogg to the design by Thomas Fraser Duff, inspired by the form of a classical Grecian temple
Scottish. Dated 1858.
Measurements
Width: 30 3/4" (78 cm); Height: 21 1/2" (54.6 cm); Depth: 21" (53.3 cm)
Research:
Of mahogany. The rectangular case framed at each corner by a freestanding column and surmounted on each side by a triangular pediment. The front containing seven compartments arranged in three registers; the top register of three fall front doors, two of which open to reveal shallow red velvet lined numbered, compartmented trays, and the third door concealing a single tray below a compartmented drawer. The middle and lower registers each comprise two deeper drawers with compartments in half the length. The whole raised on a conforming rectangular plinth.

Marks:
Two inscribed brass medallions:
VIRTUTE ET OPERA, with the Duff Family Crest
FETERESSO CASTLE. AUG. 1859; Thomas Fraser Duff / effigiavit / James Hogg / fecit
Marked Underneath the cornice in pencil:
Tho. Fraser Duff
Sept 7th 1859

Provenance:
Thomas Fraser Duff (1830–1877), Fetteresso Castle, Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Scotland
An important US Numismatics Collection
Private US Collection.

This impressive collector’s cabinet, in the form of a classical temple, belonged to the Duff family of Fetteresso Castle, Kincardineshire, Scotland. On July 29, 1858 Thomas Fraser married his first cousin, Marie Albertine Duff, daughter of Robert Duff and Marie Madeline Namont; it was to Marie Albertine’s line of the Duff family that Fetteresso Castle belonged. According to The Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage & Companionage of the British Empire for 1907, Thomas Fraser Duff is described as being “of Woodcote House and Checkendon Court, Oxon. and of Chantilly, France.”8 Thomas Fraser’s time there is supported by several news excerpts, which also inform us that he worked as an architect.

The inscription on the cabinet implies that it was commissioned and, in all likelihood, designed(effigiavit meaning “drawn by”) by Thomas Fraser Duff, underpinned by his experience as an engineer and architect. The date of August 1858 suggests the piece was perhaps crafted on the occasion of his marriage to Marie Albertine. Beneath Thomas Fraser Duff’s name, the inscription plate indicates the cabinet was made by (fecit) James Hogg. According to the Pre-1855 Gravestone Inscriptions: An Index for Kincardineshire (The Mearns)12there appears a “Jas. Hogg many years joiner at Fetteresso” (d. 1875), and he is among the tenants listed in Robert Fetteresso’s will.

Full research report available on request.