Tall central-European chest of four drawers in washed pine, made in Central Europe in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. A bourgeois piece of generous proportions, sitting between a master-bedroom chest and a family storage cabinet, representative of rural Central European furniture in its cleanest, most luminous reading.
In bourgeois and rural central-European houses around the turn of the century, the tall chest of drawers was the principal bedroom piece. It kept linen, family textiles and personal items in four graduated drawers — the upper one shallower for small pieces, the lower ones progressively deeper for blankets and bulky garments. The washing of the original paintwork has given the piece a second life in a contemporary key.
It is built in solid pine with washed fronts that reveal the natural grain. The four drawers are joined with exposed dovetails and retain their original white ceramic pulls on steel back-plates, along with the original keyhole escutcheons. The frame-and-panel construction is clearly legible on the sides, and the base lifts on a straight plinth that organises the verticality of the whole.
The patina retains all the character of washed pine: the wood shows the pale matte tone of the lye process, with the grain entirely visible and the knots punctuating the surface. The edges and drawers show light scuffs and use marks consistent with age, without compromising structural integrity. The hardware retains its original character.
For its imposing scale and clean lines, it sits naturally in contemporary rustic, eclectic, Scandinavian, Mediterranean or country-house interiors, where it works as a bedroom chest, storage piece in a dressing room, presence-piece in an entrance hall or anchor piece in a dining room. Its pale tone coordinates easily with limewashed walls, raw linen and pale woods.
Details
- Dimensions: Width: 133 cm Depth: 61 cm Height: 124 cm
- Style: Rural central-European furniture
- Materials and techniques: Washed solid pine; four drawers with exposed dovetails; white ceramic pulls on steel back-plates; original keyhole escutcheons
- 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. Wear consistent with age and use
This piece is part of the collection of Amaru Antiques, Barcelona.
ONE OF A KIND PIECE
