.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This exquisitely executed dresser and mirror exhibits the well-developed Anglo-Japanese style at the height of the Aesthetic movement. The rectangular proportions of the mirror frame and the lower case are complemented by the placement of the inlaid angular branches and circular flowers. Expanses of ebonized wood on the small upper drawers are juxtaposed above flowers that seem to grow towards each other across the central doors, creating tension in the ebonized area.
A closely related wardrobe is part of the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Katherine S. Howe, Herter Brothers, Furniture for a Gilded Age (Houston, 1994), pp. 194-195). Slight variations in the inlay can be seen between the two pieces, but the overall design and execution allows the possibility that they were part of the same suite of furniture.
A closely related wardrobe is part of the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Katherine S. Howe, Herter Brothers, Furniture for a Gilded Age (Houston, 1994), pp. 194-195). Slight variations in the inlay can be seen between the two pieces, but the overall design and execution allows the possibility that they were part of the same suite of furniture.