Antique Low Cupboard in Pine, Central Europe, 1870

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This antique low cupboard in pine wood is a Central European peasant cabinet with two doors and a wooden turn-latch. … Read more This antique low cupboard in pine wood is a Central European peasant cabinet with two doors and a wooden turn-latch. It originates from Central Europe, from the last third of the nineteenth century, where board was dressed with the adze and joined without hardware.This is subsistence joinery, not cabinetmaking: the piece was made with the tools of the house and the timber to hand. The whole closing mechanism is resolved with one wooden piece pivoting on a peg, without a single iron fitting on the visible face.The case is solid pine with the stiles continued into feet. The top overhangs the sides and finishes in a lightly shaped profile. Two plank doors, with neither frame nor panel, close the front onto a single interior compartment.The surface retains the diagonal marks of the adze, very visible in raking light across the doors. An incised zigzag border runs along the upper rail, the only decorative gesture of the piece. The wood has taken an even honey tone.At 81 cm across the front and 71 high it works as a tall bedside table, an auxiliary entrance-hall piece or a small sideboard. Its archaic character makes it especially effective beside contemporary pieces of clean line. See less