18th Century Flemish Collector's Cabinet

Made in Antwerp in the 17th or early 18th century, the ebonised cabinet sits on a separate stand, which may have been a table of English origin. The front opens to reveal a set of drawers decorated with red scagliola and gilded figures. Heart-shaped details on the doors may suggest a link to a marriage or to an engagement. Hidden at the centre of the piece is a mirrored architectural interior and two secret drawers.   

The Brookes built two successive houses on the site of the medieval priory; the first a Tudor building, the second a Georgian mansion. Two labels of considerable age attached to the rear of the cabinet bear the name of Sir Richard Brooke, providing excellent provenance for the piece. An inventory of the Georgian house made in 1865 lists the cabinet as being in a room containing collections of ‘fossils, insects and curiosities’. The Brookes left in 1921, and with the contents sold, the house was demolished in 1928. 

The Norton Priory Museum & Gardens opened in 1982, with collections focusing on the medieval origins and archaeology of the site. This cabinet is the first piece of furniture from the Brookes’ time at the priory to be acquired, making an important link to the generations of the family and their lives spent there.