Lot Essay
On the top of this dresser is a small patched square which traditionally is thought to be a mark of respect for a loved one. Lots 222, 277 and 290 also display this feature.
Related dressers have been sold anonymously at Phillips London, 25 February 1992, lot 48 and 1 June 1993, lot 60, although this example is highly individual with the pair of raised panels next to the doors and the ribbed apron moulding with its fine incised detail. Certainly by the middle of the 18th century Cheshire was recorded as being a suitable territory for acquiring good oak by the antiquarian Horace Walpole. A Chester specification book containing many references to Dantzic oak dressers is discussed by C. Gilbert in English Vernacular Furniture from 1750-1900, Yale, 1991, pl. 18 (which illustrates a low dresser), although this relates more specifically to the early 1800s.
Related dressers have been sold anonymously at Phillips London, 25 February 1992, lot 48 and 1 June 1993, lot 60, although this example is highly individual with the pair of raised panels next to the doors and the ribbed apron moulding with its fine incised detail. Certainly by the middle of the 18th century Cheshire was recorded as being a suitable territory for acquiring good oak by the antiquarian Horace Walpole. A Chester specification book containing many references to Dantzic oak dressers is discussed by C. Gilbert in English Vernacular Furniture from 1750-1900, Yale, 1991, pl. 18 (which illustrates a low dresser), although this relates more specifically to the early 1800s.