Central-European chest of three drawers in washed pine, made in Central Europe in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. A balanced domestic piece sitting between a bedroom chest and a tall sideboard, representative of rural Central European furniture in its most serene reading.
In central-European houses around the turn of the century, the three-drawer chest was one of the most versatile pieces of domestic furniture: it found a place in bedrooms, dressing rooms, entrance halls and dining rooms, and offered a very practical proportion for storing linen and household items. The clean reading it offers after the washing of its original paintwork makes it especially attractive for contemporary interiors.
It is built in solid pine with washed fronts and frame-and-panel sides. The three drawers are joined with exposed dovetails and retain their original circular knobs and brass escutcheons. The cabinetry is honest and robust, with visible mortise-and-tenon joints at the corners and slightly tapered square-section legs that lift the piece off the floor.
The patina retains the natural tone of washed pine: the wood shows the ageing typical of the lye process, with the grain entirely visible and the knots punctuating the surface. The edges show light scuffs and the drawers slide correctly on their wooden runners. The hardware retains its original patina.
For its intermediate scale and clean reading, it sits naturally in contemporary rustic, Scandinavian, Mediterranean, eclectic or country-house interiors, where it works as a bedroom chest, hallway piece, dining-room sideboard or auxiliary unit in a dressing room. Its pale tone and balanced proportion let it slip into very different compositions.
Details
- Dimensions: Width: 125 cm Depth: 60 cm Height: 107 cm
- Style: Rural central-European furniture
- Materials and techniques: Washed solid pine; three drawers with exposed dovetails; original circular knobs and brass escutcheons; visible mortise-and-tenon joints
- Place of origin: Central Europe
- Period: Turn of the nineteenth to twentieth century
- Date of manufacture: Circa 1900
- Condition / Notes: Good. Stripped piece with wood exposed. May show minor period restorations
This piece is part of the collection of Amaru Antiques, Barcelona.
ONE OF A KIND PIECE
