Writing cabinet

A key figure in the Arts and Crafts movement, which flourished in the last third of the nineteenth century in the wake of the activity of William Morris (1834–1896), drawing on the spirit of the Gothic age and attempting to revive the handicraft traditions of the Middle Ages, was the architect M. H. Baillie Scott (1865–1945). On account of the recognition accorded an interior he designed for the Darmstadt palace of the Grand Duke of Hesse, he was one of the first British designers to secure numerous commissions in mainland Europe also. His larchwood writing cabinet came to the Museum of Applied Arts along with the pieces in the one-time collection of models belonging to the Budapest furniture manufacturer Miksa Schmidt (1861–1935). On the pull-down writing flap of the creatively built writing cabinet, which stands on turned legs, can be seen spectacular mountings that recall the ponderous ‘ironwork’ on medieval furniture.

Below the open shelf comprising the upper part there is a flat-carved quotation: “WORDS ARE LIKE LEAVES AND WHERE THEY MOST ABOUND / MUCH FRUIT OF SENSE BENEATH IS RARELY FOUND”.

These lines are from the Essay on Criticism (written in 1709) by the famous English poet Alexander Pope (1688–1744).