Featured A little head scratcher of a cabinet

Good evening everyone. Now here I have another little riddle. This cabinet I recently bought, well it has so many contradictory details that I would like to ask for your opinion.

Now from the first picture, standing as it is, I would date it to 1840-1850. The materials used, the color and several decorations point to this era quite exactly. But then, looking into the details I see some not really matching this age.




About the details moving this piece to the first half of the 19th century:

First of all I removed the square keyhole covers, since I thought that they mismatch the design and aha! Just as I thought – they are some later, but also old replacements. Initially every keyhole had the same escutcheon like you can see on picture 3.


This one is made of mother of pearl I think, and a rather thick one. Easily 2-2,5 mm thick.

Now this would also confirm the idea of 1840-1850 since as far as I recall this was one of the favorite shapes of keyhole décor these days.

Also the lock with the initials, the nice iron key and the hand forged nails for the drawers fit the estimated age.



But now to speak of the questionable parts: Picture 4 shows an adjustable shelf system I never saw in furniture of before 1890. All pieces I compared this one to had the usual bars attached to the sides with a shelf simply put on them.

Also the veneer seems to be too thin for this era. It is almost nowhere thicker than 1 mm, often even thinner… more like 0,6-0,8 mm (difficult to say using only a metal ruler but definitely less than 1) - this is one of the small drawers from the top part.




Also the top drawer with the many compartments seems a bit weird. The little white knobs feels like china. They are actually screws with the threaded stem being screwed in the wood and then a head of the same material screwed on the stem.

Still, this entire composition looks a bit weird compared to the design of the cabinet itself. Almost English. The big lock is a modern replacement.


Well, so far my thoughts about it. Now I am thrilled to learn yours! The next pictures re just to help you find any clues.

 

1840 - 1850 is the first half of the 19th century; did you mean first half of 20th or second half of 19th? I know virtually nothing about cabinetry, but love this & think the glued in mother of pearl keyhole plates would at least put it into the Victorian period.

 

And, since it includes a writing surface, I would be inclined to call it a secretary.

 

Late Classical Secretary Bookcase? I have seen adjustable shelved interiors in early pieces. Typically they were English.

 

I would expect bone?
Nvntivs, you are in Germany, aren't you? The replacement keyhole cover plates look like German Jugendstil transition to Deco. They are very nice, but out of place on this piece.
It could be an English secretary bookcase that has been in Germany for over a century. Maybe the shelf supports were also put in at a later date.

 

Well.. in the first part of my post I mentioned the details which would confirm the initially estimated age. That's why I wrote both first half of the 19th century and 1840-1850 which is actually the same

 

Hi, and yes. I am in Germany. This piece I bought in southern Germany though with no background information at all. You are right though- Because of the keyhole plates I even thought when I first saw the cabinet on a picture it could be an Art Deco piece. However now, I am rather inclined to date it with 80-100 years earlier than that. Still...There is this very thin veneer… Everywhere I read, that thickness of 0,5-0,8 mm wasn't producible before the end of the 19th century.. However, up to now I mostly checked empire and Biedermeier reference pieces… maybe I should check the English ones too…

Regarding the knobs - yeah, I would too. But when you touch them, they just feel too cold for bone. And also much to hard. There was a broken stem in one of the covers, so I tried to scratch a groove for a screwdriver in it in order to turn it out - was not really possible... Don't know if ivory is maybe harder than usual bone...

 

Apologies - got tangled in the thread.

Arachne

 

I love how you talk about this piece, and capture all the intricacies and elements with such detail. I felt like I was going on a journey with you in exploration.

 

JMHO.
I got a whole bunch of that stuff from my grandparents. they married around 1920 and were living in Northern Switzerland. sturdily built, bourgeois stuff that was in a style which you often find between the wars. not really art deco yet, but already without any jugendstil adornments. I'd call it Deutsche Gemütlichkeit...

 

Looking at it with fresh eyes, the top and bottom look like a marriage to me. The bottom looks early 20th century, but the keyhole cover looks older.
The top looks Biedermeier, 1840s-60s, but could be revival. My inexpert eye notes construction, shelf supports, and as you mentioned, thin veneer.
The Jugendstil-Deco transition keyhole escutcheons put on to tie it in with the bottom.

So I am now officially confused.

Maybe @verybrad or @Jeff Drum can tell us more?

 

Agrees, and i know very little about european furniture, wait for others to post.

 

In daylight the colours of top and bottom are also different, something I couldn't see last night.

 

A photo of entire back is usually helpful in determining a marriage, as differences in construction, secondary wood is more apparent.

 

I don't see a marriage. Would have no problem with an 1850s or so date with this if it were American. Not sure how this translates across the pond. Could be a bit later. The veneer thickness and shelf support system probably rules this out as being an earlier Biedermeier piece but it has a bit of the look. Looks like I also see a large radius saw mark in the pine on the back. Can't think this put it any early than 1850s and may support a slightly later date.

 

That shelf support system is circa 1900 in America, dunno about europe. And, if you click that pic of shelf supports to enlarge, the hinge is to small for the case but fits the door, SOMETHING isn't quite right here.

 

Indeed, the bottom with rounded corners & the upper glass case is square until you get to the pediment and back to round, curved again.

Yes, those drawers are totally out of place compared with the upper case plain country type interior.

A cabinet built & assembled from different parts of different cabinets?
I'd guess not only "married" but this cabinet had "children" along the way.

 

So, I am back with more pictures But first of all, thank you all for the participation. I know an US Forum is probably not the best place to discuss continental furniture, it is just that I wasn’t able to find any European forum of such a quality.

Now here are some pics of the rear. To be honest I cannot imagine a 20th century piece anymore. The nails are too crude and bottom of the upper rear part is hold by rather old dowels.

Regarding the round up lower part with a squarely shaped upper part – this is not unusual for Biedermeier: here some examples:

https://tinyurl.com/ybar3qlv

https://tinyurl.com/yb2rkngu

I also checked the hinges. What appeared to be a hinge too small for the body but fit for the door was just a bad picture. As you can see in the following, the hinges fit both parts quite exactly.

Anyway, I hope the pictures will help.

 

Thank you very much for the kind reply. Happy you like it!

 

Ah, one more thing which would rule out a cabinet made from different parts is that these shield shaped keyhole covers are on both, upper part doors, little drawers and the big drawers from the lower part.