Titles

Most titles refer to the colour scheme of the exhibition stand, as in the examples given below:

• 'Decorations, Harmony in Yellow and Gold' (1878, W. Watt & Co.). 1
• 'Harmony in Yellow and Gold' (1878, G. W. Smalley). 2
• 'He called [the room] a Harmony in Yellow and Gold, and others spoke of it as the Primrose Room' (1911, Pennell). 3
• 'Harmony in Yellow and Gold: The Butterfly Cabinet' (1980, YMSM). 4

The preferred title is 'Harmony in Yellow and Gold: The Butterfly Cabinet'.

Description

It was originally a fireplace with mahogany side-panels and over-mantel, designed by the architect Edward William Godwin (1833-1886), and manufactured by William Watt & Co.

A description of the fireplace and surrounds as they appeared in Paris in 1878 appeared in American newspapers:

'Mr Whistler ... calls this room a Harmony in Yellow and Gold. Against a yellow wall is built up a chimney-piece and cabinet in one, of which the wood, like all the wood in the room, is a curiously light yellow mahogany, something very different from the flaming veneer known to the American for generations past, with drunk and straddling patterns all over it. The fire-place is flush with the front of the cabinet, the front panelled in gilt bars below the shelf and cornice, inclosing tiles of pale sulphur; above the shelf a cupboard, with clear glass and triangular open niches at either side, holding bits of Kaga porcelain ... ; the frame of the grate brass; the rails in polished steel; the fender the same. Yellow on yellow, gold on gold, everywhere. The peacock reappears, the eyes and the breast feathers of him ... the feather is all gold, boldly and softly laid on a gold-tinted wall. The feet to the table-legs are tipped with brass, and rest on a yellowish brown velvet rug. Chairs and sofas are covered with yellow, pure rich yellow velvet, darker in shade than the yellow of the wall, and edged with yellow fringe.' 5

The panel over the fireplace was signed with Whistler's butterfly monogram at the lower right corner of the wide central panel immediately above the mantelpiece. When it was exhibited on Watt's stand, the walls to left and right of the fireplace, above the dado, were painted with more cloud patterns, and signed with a butterfly monogram above these patterns, to right of the fireplace.

The fireplace and surrounding panels were reconstructed as a cabinet some time after 1878. In its present state (2020) it is a mahogany cabinet of rectangular form with canted sides, the base section with two panelled doors in the centre, the sides with open shelves and panels of yellow tiling divided by brass mouldings below; the centre section with glazed middle and panelled back, with a shelf and pedimented back above flanked by shaped and stepped supports. The doors, and the central section above, were decorated by Whistler with Japanese motifs (cloud/wave or feather patterns) and butterflies on a primrose yellow ground, and the mahogany panels were decorated with similar motifs, and butterflies and petals in gold. 6

Comments

William Watt (1834-1885) produced and sold some of the finest furniture of the Aesthetic Movement, including cabinets designed by E. W. Godwin, some with panels painted by Godwin's then wife Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896). 7

David P. Curry commented on Whistler's use of yellow and gold:

'He brought out with gilding the areas that would have been in deepest shadow - the back of the central section and the interior of the glassed-in portion of the top. On the bottom section he balanced the unmodulated yellow tiles with two central panels that are painted with patterns reminiscent of the Peacock Room. Elsewhere he sprinkled little touches of gold paint that add sparkle to the rich and sombre surface of the mahogany.' 8

Susan Soros considered that 'Whistler's abstract decoration provides a degree of animation to what is otherwise a ponderous and massive piece of furniture.' 9

The Hunterian commented:

'The scheme impressively articulated both Godwin and Whistler's interest in beauty and harmony in design as well as fine art. Whistler painted Godwin's centrepiece, this striking, architectonic fireplace/cabinet, and the flanking dado and wall. The influence of oriental art can be seen in the streamlined forms of the fireplace and Whistler's decoration of yellow and gold butterflies, blossom, and oriental cloud motifs.' 10

NOTE:

ANOTHER CABINET: A maple and brass cabinet manufactured by Watt & Co. was bought by the National Museums of Scotland in 2013, given the title 'Harmony in Yellow and Gold – The Cloud Cabinet', and published at that time as having been designed by E. W. Godwin, and decorated and signed in gold by Whistler, for the 1878 Paris Exposition Universelle. 11 It is a striking piece of furniture with symmetrical inlaid flower and strap patterns on the panels. Whether it was designed by Godwin is uncertain, however, and the gold 'cloud' patterns and 'butterflies' painted on it appear to be merely a later imitation of Whistler's work. The 'butterflies' do not resemble Whistler's butterfly monogram. It was certainly not the fireplace/cabinet from the 1878 exhibition.