Precious and costly oriental lacquer, prized for its delicate decoration and polished surface, was among the luxurious and fashionable works of art imported to Europe by the East India Companies from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries onwards, and led to the development in Japanning in late seventeenth century England. The present chest-on-stand, made around that time, exemplifies the English taste which developed for Japanning.

In 1688, around the period of this chest-on-stand, John Stalker published his Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing, which he described as 'a complete discovery of those arts'. Stalker treatise was a complete guide on how to produce Japanned works, leading to a proliferation of the medium immediately following its publication. It also acted as a pattern book, depicting designs of figures, flowers, animals, buildings and landscapes that burgeoning craftsmen could use, as they may have on the present chest-on-stand.

Of particular note here is the age and condition of the of stand, a rare survival for a chest of this age. A comparable Japanned chest-on-stand was sold from the Collection of Glenn and Patricia Randall, Clarendon Court, Newport, Rhode Island; Christie's, New York, 22 October 2024, lot 106.