AN AESTHETIC MOVEMENT INLAID MAPLE DRESSING BUREAU
Lot 131 Property from the Baltimore Museum of Art, Sold to Benefit the Acquisitions Fund

AN AESTHETIC MOVEMENT INLAID MAPLE DRESSING BUREAU

STAMPED BY HERTER BROTHERS (W. 1864-1906), NEW YORK, CIRCA 1880

Closed3 October 2007

Price Realised

USD 23,750

More Information

How to sell

AN AESTHETIC MOVEMENT INLAID MAPLE DRESSING BUREAU
STAMPED BY HERTER BROTHERS (w. 1864-1906), NEW YORK, CIRCA 1880
Back of mirror frame stamped HERTER BROS; appears to retain its original brasses
84 in. high, 64 in. wide, 16¾ in. deep

Specialist note

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.