This painted cabinet augments the Museum's rich collection of nineteenth-century American furniture, joining William H. Vanderbilt's rosewood and mother-of-pearl library table (acc. no. 1972.470) and carved oak dining chair (acc. no. 1994.80) in representing some of the most elegant American reception rooms from the Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s. It is rare—relatively few objects from the great Herter commissions of about 1880 survive—and is the only major example of the ivory-and-gold palette that Herter Brothers favored in designing drawing rooms for wealthy clients such as Ames, an industrialist and governor of Massachusetts from 1886 to 1888.

Typical of Herter Brothers—and the best late-nineteenth-century American furniture—the cabinet is a sophisticated amalgamation of historical and contemporary sources: the canonical eighteenth-century precedents to which it alludes are transformed by an Aesthetic movement vocabulary. The form evolved along with the late-nineteenth-century passion for collecting decorative arts such as the Venetian glass shown here and Japanese lacquerware, which inspired the gold-flecked finish. Other elements, such as the asymmetrical shelves and tapered feet, evidence awareness of contemporary British designs, especially those of E. W. Godwin; in this regard, a small Godwin table in the Museum's collection (acc. no. 1991.87) makes an apt comparison.