The sideboard was originally owned by John & Lizzie Harris of 'Bulwara', Ultimo, Sydney from about 1880. John Harris was five times Mayor of Sydney between 1881 and 1889, including during Australia's centennial year in 1888. His wife Lizzie laid the foundation stone of the Centennial Hall (Sydney Town Hall) in 1883 in a gown which is now in the Powerhouse collection. The Harris family's long association with Ultimo dates back to 1803 when Surgeon John Harris was granted 35 acres in Ultimo by Governor King. Harris subsequently built Ultimo House in 1805. 'Bulwara', a grand Italianate mansion on the site of what is now Ultimo Public School, was built in 1880 by John Harris, the grand-nephew of Surgeon Harris. Both houses are now demolished though the suburb of Ultimo and the names of many of its streets are a legacy of the Harris family's important historical connection with the area.

Family history has held that the sideboard - and the dining room suite to which it belonged - was bought by John Harris from the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1878. However, extensive research into the English furniture shown at the Paris exhibition would indicate that the suite was not that shown in the exhibition but rather was made by James Shoolbred & Co, one of the exhibitors in Paris.

An explanation for the longstanding connection of the furniture with the Paris exhibition may be that Harris, on admiring the Shoolbred displays in Paris, was later motivated to order furniture on a more domestic scale from the company in London.

The sideboard is very much in the late Victorian Aesthetic style popular in the 1870s and 1880s. Its combination of Gothic, Japanese and even Queen Anne decorative elements was typical of fashionable furniture at the time and owed much to the designs of B J Talbert, under whom H W Batley, possibly the designer of the piece, is said to have studied in the 1860s. Talbert's 'Examples of Ancient and Modern Furniture' , published in 1876, illustrates a number of designs that have much in common with the Harris sideboard including brass strapwork hinges, spindled galleries, and naturalistically-carved door panels enclosed by applied mouldings.

The Harris sideboard represents an example of good quality English Aesthetic Movement furniture highly fashionable in the 1870s and 80s and perhaps the last great decorative style of the Victorian era. Of particular significance for the Powerhouse Museum is its local provenance and its links to one of Sydney's important historical figures. The sideboard will also provide an interesting counterpoint to another Aesthetic piece of furniture in the collection, the undecorated, Japanese-inspired E W Godwin oak sideboard designed in 1867 and manufactured by William Watt throughout the 1870s.

Anne Watson, 2003

Possibly designed, or based on designs, by H W Batley. Batley designed the Shoolbred furniture shown at the Paris exhibition, several examples of which are known through contemporary illustrations. Batley's association with the Harris sideboard is pure speculation, but there are certainly enough stylistic similarities between it and illustrated examples to suggest Shoolbred's at least used Batley's Paris pieces as inspiration for the decorative detailing on the sideboard.

Batley's career is well-documented in Susan Weber Soros, 'Rediscovering H W Batley (1846-1932), British Aesthetic Movement Artistand Designer'in 'Studies in the Decorative Arts', Spring-Summer, 1999, Bard Graduate Center, New York.

Attributed to James Shoolbred & Co.
Family history has held that the sideboard - and the dining room suite to which it belonged - was bought by John Harris from the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1878. However, extensive research into the English furniture shown at the Paris exhibition would indicate that the suite was not that shown in the exhibition but rather was made by James Shoolbred & Co, one of the exhibitors in Paris.

Shoolbred's contribution to the Paris Exposition Universelle was widely reported in reviews and several pieces were illustrated in contemporary journals. The firm furnished three rooms in the industrial section of the exhibition - a library, dining room and bedroom - all design by H W Batley. While the sideboard was not illustrated, the dining room mantelpiece was shown in the 'Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the Paris International Exhibition'. It has a number of stylistic similarities with the Harris sideboard but is much more richly carved and elaborately detailed, as is to be expected in an exhibition piece. Similarly, two cabinets by Shoolbred / Batley in the exhibition and illustrated at the time have features in common with the Harris sideboard (for example, the naturalistic carving and arrangement of applied mouldings to the door panels), but their decoration is significantly more elaborate.

An explanation for the longstanding connection of the furniture with the Paris exhibition may be that Harris, on admiring the Shoolbred displays in Paris, was later motivated to order furniture on a more domestic scale from the company in London.

The sideboard has been dated about 1878 because it is known that the Harris's bought furniture in London soon after seeing the Paris Exposition in 1878. Stylistically the sideboard can be dated 1875-1885.

The dining room suite of which the sideboard was a part was originally purchased in London about 1878 by John & Lizzie Harris. It was used in their home, 'Bulwara' in Ultimo, Sydney. It then passed by descent to the donor, John Harris, the great-grandson of the original owner.

John Harris was five times Mayor of Sydney between 1881 and 1889, including during Australia's centennial year in 1888. His wife Lizzie laid the foundation stone of the Centennial Hall (Sydney Town Hall) in 1883 in a gown which is now in the Powerhouse collection. The Harris family's long association with Ultimo dates back to 1803 when Surgeon John Harris was granted 35 acres in Ultimo by Governor King. Harris subsequently built Ultimo House in 1805. 'Bulwara', a grand Italianate mansion on the site of what is now Ultimo Public School, was built in 1880 by John Harris, the grand-nephew of Surgeon Harris. Both houses are now demolished though the suburb of Ultimo and the names of many of its streets are a legacy of the Harris family's important historical connection with the area.

Sideboard, wood / glass / brass, attributed to James Shoolbred & Co., England, c 1878

Sideboard, made of oak, the upper stage with a central bevelled mirror below a beaded cornice and flanked by cupboards, each with a galleried top, glazed doors with brass strap hinges and brass knob handles (replacements) and supported on turned columns resting on the lower stage top. The lower stage with two central drawers with brass drop handles above a gallery of ebonised spindles and flanked by cupboards, the cupboard doors with fielded panels and applied ebonised mouldings enclosing a central panel carved with flowers and foliage; brass drop handles and strap hinges. The whole supported on eight turned legs on a moulded plinth base.

Made: England; 1873 - 1883

Used: Harris, John; Ultimo, New South Wales; 1881 - 1889

None

2003/178/1

1873 - 1883

2390 mm

2415 mm

700 mm