Cribb, William

London; carver and gilder (fl. 1812–45)

13 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden (1812–20); but by July 1820 at 34 King Street, Covent Garden at which address he remained until at least 1845 [London Post Office Directory 1845].

On 4 November 1812 he purchased insurance cover of £1,600 on his dwelling house alone. This amount of cover was repeated at his new King Street  house with an addition of £400 for stock and utensils and £100 for pictures, prints and glass.

His trade cards [Guildhall Library and Westminster Reference Library] indicate that he undertook house painting, the manufacture of looking glasses and the framing of pictures and prints, which he also sold. The Scottish artist Alexander Nasmyth used Cribb as his framer and also as his agent.

A gilt side table in the manner of William Kent at Chatsworth is carved and dated ‘W. Cribb fecit 1834’ (illus. Gilbert (1996), figs 258-259]. Three other tables of the same type, although not signed, are probably from the same source.  

A gilt frame, c. 1825, labelled on the back ‘House Painting W. CRIBB. CARVER & GILDER, Looking Glass Manufacturer & PRINT SELLER. No. 34 King Street, Covent Garden. Prints, Drawings &c Framed & Glazed. NB Orders for Exportation executed with punctuality & dispatch. Pictures Cleaned, Lined and Repaired’ (illus. Gilbert (1996), figs 260-261).

Source: DEFM; Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840 (1996); Houliston, ‘Frame Making in Edinburgh 1790-1830’, Regional Furniture (1999).