LATE 18TH CENTURY

This remarkable dresser has three long drawers in the top and a small drawer on the right hand side, above three long panelled doors below. This unusual arrangement of drawers is inexplicable until the piece is viewed from the rear. This is constructed with four raised panels secured between decoratively moulded muntins and the back has been scumbled over-all and simulated as oak grain, with medullary rays faintly painted on the surface. Dressers of this type commonly have roughly shaped and nailed boards on the rear and the presence of a carefully made and painted back suggests that the dresser did not stand against a wall, but was free standing and probably used as a shop counter - possibly in a hardware or similar shop, where the 'front' could be repainted when required, and the small drawer could have been used for small items or a cash till.
Dr.B.D.Cotton.