The Piedmont region in Italy was particularly famed for its elaborate chinoiserie interiors, more than two-dozen of which are preserved in palaces and villas of Turin, its capital city. The “Chinese Room” of one palace in particular, Palazzo Grosso in Riva di Chieri, Turin, features an extraordinary painted ceiling by Antonio and Giovanni Toricelli (Figure 1) that mimics the intricate patterns of Chinese latticework garden fences.

In a departure from the 18th century English and French rocaille predecessors, 19th century Italian chinoiserie designs were more angular and geometric. Similar lozenge and rectangular patterns to those on the Grosso ceiling are simulated in the frame of the present mirror, complementing the simplified pagoda forms at the corners and center of the cornice.

The highly unusual painted decoration of the cabinet, which has been remarkably well preserved, draws its inspiration from the rich decorative vocabulary of 18th century chinoiserie, combining these elements in a unique and imaginative way. The graceful figures to the front panels, in balanced but differing poses, offer a more artistic technique than the often formulaic approach of Regency designers and are closer to the work of the celebrated early eighteenth-century cabinet maker and lacquer-worker Giles Grendey (1693 – 1780). The pagodas which decorate the sides of the cabinet were a fashionable element in the exotic royal and aristocratic interiors of the Regency period, yet  have their roots in 18th century Chinoiserie.

The decoration of the cabinet further departs from the convention of the Regency in the subtle coloration of the painted scheme. In being limited to two colors, it follows the theory of grisaille decoration, again in diametric opposition to the vividly colored schemes of the Regency. Finally, the script on the top of the cabinet is a highly unusual and inventive conceit and was intended to be seen as Chinese, however the individual characters are an invention and cannot be read. These decorative themes, accompanied by the subtle 18th century form of the cabinet, make it a very fine George III example of chinoiserie furniture in penwork.

_{Footnote: 1. Riley, Noël. Penwork: A Decorative Phenomenon. West Yorkshire: Oblong Creative Ltd., 2008. ix.}