Featured Carved tall older cabinet, Spanish? Mexican? German?

This has been in my friend's foyer for years, was a family piece. She isn't selling it, just curious about it.

Back story I have is that "her grandmother gave it to her aunt, it may have come out of a Denver antique store...."

I would say based on family history of when her relatives were moving, etc. the absolute latest this piece could be is 1960. Around 6ft tall. Unfinished lighter wood inside with shelves. Damage noted on corner. Any thoughts on age or origin?

 

A fun cabinet, so much going on.
Could you ask your friend for a photo of the lady on the lower part? Maybe her costume will tell us her origin. She seems to be playing a mandolin-like instrument.

 

She looks like some kind of pixie or leprechaun. The door is like a garden with all sorts of plants, birds, and little people.

 

This piece must be a visual feast for our folk art fans-unique.

 

It also may be helpful if we can see the interior, particularly details of the joinery. It looks like there is a keyhole above the latch. A photo of the lock mechanism on the inside may give clues as to origin.

 

I've never seen anything like that before.

Debora

 

Australian?
Pic 3, upper right, has a person astride a bird...where else inna world izzat possible?

 

An amazing piece...the number of individual cuts is enormous! Art folklorique Magnifique! I drool, slightly...

 

The cast iron door latch/knob is a classic Victorian piece. The side panel inserts look quite a bit like chestnut with it's strong grain pattern. I.D. of all wood types used in this piece will help in determining origins.

 

Wow,that’s a beautiful thing. Great detail. For me
that would be Christmas list item. Also great that you friend is cherishing it and not selling.

 

Pure folk art. I'm happy your friend is holding onto that; I would too.

 

Thanks everyone! I think I'll have to come back with additional pictures which might take a month. I thought it was going to be easy to find similar so didn't take that many shots with my cellphone (and for some crazy reason forgot about Google image, which could have been something to try while I was there) but seems a bit more complicated than I thought. Inside is lighter unstained wood, absolutely utilitarian shelves, doesn't even look old inside. Honestly doesn't even match the rest of it. I have one terrible photo of this:


Also I can crop the part with the woman. Looks like there is a fox in the mix....



I can crop the latch from existing photos. I see what you mean about another key hole maybe.



It's the first thing you see in the hall of my friend's condo, and honestly my friend doesn't even care about the history that much. She knows "her grandmother gave it to her Aunt" and that's about it. I have to say, from other items I've seen passed down this family they had some pretty fantastic art. So I am doing this a bit (for me) but I also thought it would be neat if my friend knew the history.

 

Something wrong there. The interior is inconsistent with the exterior.

Debora

 

I was surprised to see the inside too. Outside is stained, you can see the lighter wood on the bottom corner where the damage is. Inside definitely not stained but you'd expect it to be more of a match. It's like two completely different styles of furniture. The outside is hand done, and above average in detail. It stops me in my tracks when she opens the door every time I go over (a few times a year) because I've not really seen anything like it before. The carving is over the top in a folk-arty way. Would have taken some time to complete. The inside is just those shelves. Could the inside have been rebuilt? Or something added to an existing set of shelves? Keep the thoughts coming!

 

Here's something I could imagine. Looking at the piece there are several layers inside. Grandma was an entrepreneur in the 1920's, and the aunt made a living as an artist in the 1940's-60s. What is this was sort of "falling apart" and someone rebuilt the inside, but sort of crudely? Or maybe they said, "We need shelves." and just did it using things that were laying around like plywood??

 

The side panels also look different from the front.

I wonder if they found the door in, say, Central or Eastern Europe, and built a cabinet around it.
I've seen people do that here with antique/old doors from India and Indonesia.

Thanks. She does look like a pixie/leprechaun type little person. The door is a wondrous fairytale mix, including the little guy on a bird that reminds me of Hans Holgersson.
Someone had a lot of fun carving that door.

 

That's what I'd wonder too. Someone found the carcass and added an interior to make it usable.

 

When I saw the interior shot I thought “Someone built an entire shelving unit inside this thing.” It looks like a very practical hack for someone who was desperate for storage and figured it would be a great way to make this massive piece really useful. That’s not a professional opinion it’s just intuition.