Lot Essay
Johan Gröndahl (1725 - 1774), master in 1759
From 1759 onwards all masters producing furniture in Stockholm had by Royal decree to stamp or sign their furniture if they wanted to sell them on the open market. The decree was, however, apparently not always strictly observed as the cabinet-makers were on at least two later occasions reminded of their duty. After the middle of the 18th Century the stamps were nearly always applied cold rather than branded. In 1768 the guild of cabinet-makers found it necessary to authenticate the works of masters to prevent forgeries, by introducing a stamp of double-entwined S within a circle, which was in use between November 1768 and June 1780.
A closely related commode by Johan Christian Nachtergall was sold from the Sydney Duckitt Collection at Phillips, London, 7 April 1993, lot 110. A further related commode by an unidentified maker stamping NK is illustrated in S. Wallin, Nordiska Museets Möbler fran Svenska Herrmanshem, Lund, 1979, vol. II, p. 61, fig. 446 and 447
From 1759 onwards all masters producing furniture in Stockholm had by Royal decree to stamp or sign their furniture if they wanted to sell them on the open market. The decree was, however, apparently not always strictly observed as the cabinet-makers were on at least two later occasions reminded of their duty. After the middle of the 18th Century the stamps were nearly always applied cold rather than branded. In 1768 the guild of cabinet-makers found it necessary to authenticate the works of masters to prevent forgeries, by introducing a stamp of double-entwined S within a circle, which was in use between November 1768 and June 1780.
A closely related commode by Johan Christian Nachtergall was sold from the Sydney Duckitt Collection at Phillips, London, 7 April 1993, lot 110. A further related commode by an unidentified maker stamping NK is illustrated in S. Wallin, Nordiska Museets Möbler fran Svenska Herrmanshem, Lund, 1979, vol. II, p. 61, fig. 446 and 447