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Texas Wardrobe

Currency:USD Category:Antiques Start Price:500.00 USD Estimated At:1,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Texas Wardrobe
All items sold as is where is. See photos for condition, email info@burleyauction.com or call 830-629-9280 (Prior to sale day) if you have specific condition questions.
Large 19th century Texas handmade pine wardrobe measures 84" tall, 56" wide and 24" deep and is constructed using dovetail, mortise and tenon, tongue and groove, and cut and wire nail joinery. It has a Greek Revival influence exhibiting the cornice, frieze, architrave, and column/pilaster design elements and most likely crafted by a master cabinetmaker. These embellishments are more particularly described below. The wardrobe has the typical three (3) component construction: crown; case; and the base. These sections are secured by large handmade iron carriage bolts. When dismantled, the wardrobe contains twelve (12) pieces. The wardrobe was originally painted white or perhaps green. It has been stripped to reveal the exceptional pine graining.
The crown is dovetailed and perhaps the most prominent feature of the wardrobe containing several styles of molding. The uppermost moldings are very pronounced. The 3" molding consists of a cima recta over a covetto together with hidden cove followed by an ovolo, thus comprising the cornice. The frieze is 2-1/4" wide and is interrupted on each end by a ¼"X3" (wide pine panel with the grain oriented perpendicular to that of the frieze) to which an elongated raised pyramidal block rests. A single cavetto molding comprises the architrave. The case contains two doors with two flat recessed panels. This asymmetric design contains 4-1/2" wide rails and 6-3/4" wide styles joined together by mortise and tenon. The inner edges of the rails and styles are beveled and rounded at the interior corners. The interior panels are raised by dado rather than beveled chamfer. The doors are full opening and affixed to the case by a set of three (3) iron butt hinges rather than the traditional two hinge configuration. The doors are bound on the outside by mounted narrow rectangular flat panels with inner cove molding. Their rails are ornamented with a set of three raised discs or circular medallions. The astragal is of similar design. These panels represent columns or pilasters of the aforementioned mentioned architectural design. The right door has a mortised iron lock with an ornate Victorian-style brass escutcheon (located on the astragal). The sides of the case contain the same asymmetric flat recessed panel design and construction as that of the doors.

The base contains a single drawer and is of dovetail construction and is bound by a cavetto molding on the top and ovolo molding on the bottom and on the sides by a 1/8"X2-1/2"X6-1/2" raised flat panel with concave notched corners with vertical grain orientation. The drawer face has two (2) pressed metal pulls and is also separated by similar raised flat panel. Their location adds to vertical form of the piece. The drawer has a mortised lock with an ornate brass escutcheon similar to the aforementioned door and is situated on the raised flat panel. The case rests on four (4) turned feet. The bell shaped feet are somewhat unusual for a wardrobe of this style.

The interior of the wardrobe contains three 1"X16-1/2" dowels for hanging clothes. They are affixed to a sliding or removable shelf.

The wardrobe maker is unknown; however, the circular medallions and rectangular moldings on the double doors are remarkably similar to a wardrobe owned by Wendel Steward, which attributed the craftsmanship to Christian Afflerbach (see Plate 2.38, Page 109, "Texas Furniture the Cabinetmakers and Their Work, 1840-1880").