Featured Please help date this dresser (top gallery) 16th Century or earlier?

My aim here is to try and investigate with you the date and function of an intriguing piece of old "junk" I bought at auction recently. This (below) was listed as a believed 16th century top gallery of a dresser with believed very old fire damage and exposed worm tracery. The previous owner had housed it in a holiday let business in Lostwithiel, Cornwall as a curio, and he bought it at a local auction. The dresser is small, measurements provided in the photo below. The thing is - it just doesn't agree with the literature as a 16th century dresser. Back then dressers were huge affairs in the great halls of nobles. So what is this thing? The auctioneer told me he thought it was a 16th C farmer's best effort with the tools he had. I just don't buy it. Please help me pin this down folks!
The tool marks on the timber are interesting. I attach a photo of the rear

And, it is worth mentioning that all the timber surfaces bear tool marks.
The ornaments on the piece have a striking gothic appearance.



I note the fire damage (now part cleaned due to necessity) and offer a hypothesis that this piece was salvaged after a fire because it was valuable, and the fire damage is not likely to have occurred later, as in the latter event it would have rendered the piece worthless and it would not have survived.

Also, the fire damage would indicate the piece has suffered high temperature, effectively killing live woodworm, and the charcoal skin being biologically inert appears to have preserved this piece from further beetle larvae attack.

Any words would be gratefully received. I can of course provide additional photographs.

Many Thanks for reading.

 

Hi and WELCOME to the Forum, @sanich!! This being a world-wide site, has members coming on and off at all hours of the day/night!! So, fear not, those with better knowledge than I WILL be along eventually!! @verybrad, @James Conrad --- Just tagging a couple to hopefully get the ball rolling for you!!

 

Welcome to the forum, sanich.
Wonderful piece, and it certainly has seen a few centuries come and go. The others will be able to tell you more.

 

Hmmmm, i see saw marks so don't believe 16th century, could be late 17th century though.

 

Could the charcoal staining be caused by this being place over an indoor kitchen fire for cooking, as opposed to one of the huge inglenook fireplaces used for heating? It's small enough for salt, condiments etc. Early houses in England sometimes did not have chimneys so the smoke rose to the ceilings often staining them and in one case I saw it effectively preserved the reed/thatch roof for at least 400 years. This smoke/charcoal could have effected your shelves. Nice aged patina.

 

Hi Audragon. Thank you for the observation. Very interesting. I suspect there is fire damage. On the right hand side both of the shelves have burned right through. Your question also makes me wonder if fats etc from cooking could be trapped.

 

I apologise for omitting to say earlier. The joinery is extremely simple being achieved by diagonally driven pegs in all instances except for the attachment of the wave ornaments to the front, and at the base of the top ornament in the centre. These are driven perpendicularly.

There is no mortice and tenon where I would expect there to be (at the join of the top ornament to the side pieces). Rather it is two opposing diagonally driven pegs (like an X).

There's a photo of the use of the pegs. In this case, securing the lower shelf to the backboards.

 

Thanks James, I think I see what you mean - rear of the (2nd from right?) backboard. I guess you're thinking of sawmills?

In the meantime, I am finding reading on furniture use and joinery is starting to suggest improbable early dates. In fact, I am now considering it likely that these initial observations may have credence. The top ornament looks awfully like the barbed quatrefoil borders on the Holy Chapel in Paris. I am finding a fair bit of art from the mid to late 13th C having this shape that was (I find), prior to 13th Century a very powerful, and circa 1270s an important Christian symbol. So, lets go crazy here... and consider if you will, the Holy Chapel in Paris.



Now spare a thought for the art that followed in England around 20 years after the St Chapel was built... Fashionable at the time... How about the Moore Psalter illustrations of 1270 AD. Here the precision is lost and a debased version of the shape of the border indicates it is a symbol.



And also this shape seems to turn up in The Grandes Chronique des France



Forgive my indulgence. If the ornament to the top is a Christian symbol then would that make sense of the wave ornaments on the dresser to left and right. I mean, the sort of heavily stylised waves like those found in the Holcombe Bible and the story of Noah.


So now I am going to assume the waves refer to flood.

The space between the shelves is variable (147 to 155 mm). I note with some amusement that this is the correct size to hold a modern wine glass (135 mm) in such a manner that it can not fall over. How very useful!

Could this possibly be a medieval cup boarde circa 1270 AD?

 

I don't know. To me this looks completely utilitarian - a simple shelf in a simple house to hold simple belongings. I see what look like modern finish nails on the back, and those pieces of wood are fairly thin and very square, so I think the back *may* be replaced? Do you agree?

I doubt it was in a fire, since it would have burned up. I don’t think a simple shelf would be valuable enough that it would be rescued from a fire. I agree that charring seems more likely to be from being kept too close to a fireplace.

I'm not convinced it is that old. I'm not saying it isn't, just that I don't see anything to make me believe it has to be. To me, the auctioneer statement about being made by someone without woodworking skills just hacking something together seems more likely than it being from before the 19th century.

 

Thanks for replying, Jeff. I do agree with you. Most helpful. There are other repairs to it also. I will look closer at those.

 

We had pit saws here in the 16th C and I see no reason this might not be that early. It's a pot shelf by the look of it: for wooden or sometimes pewter mugs, platters and goblets in a cottage, hung on the wall. Not placed over a fire or in the inglenook, but close by, so that it has the soot and fat of centuries. It's missing its bottom shelf.

I'd agree with country made, not neccessarily by a farmer, but a local. I also agree on it being rescued at some time: people had so little that everything was precious.

If you're still in the West, take it to Exeter or Truro museum. it's astonishing how much of this survives - and it's not expensive to buy, either.

 

Thanks for replying OwnerbyBear this is interesting, fits well, and is very helpful.

 

Most welcome. I love little bits of history like this.

 

Yes, 2 man pit saw teams but the tool marks on the back boards i do not think were sawed by hand, they are to vertical which indicates they were sawed by a mechanical pit saw.
Angled pit saw marks, hand operated pit saw


Machine operated pit saw marks

 

And since the first patent on a mechanical pit sawmill was by a Dutchman in 1593, i think he hooked it up to a wind mill? later on water wheels supplied most of the power to operate these mills

 

Correct, mechanical pit saw.

Agreed, in america this shelf would be termed "primitive" which is/has been quite popular but, my view is this could just as easily have been built in the 19th century.

 

It's far too primitive for even home made or country pieces in the 19th C here. Don't forget our industrial revolution was in full and rampant swing by then and decent tools, machine made nails and so forth were readily available. It's far too honestly done for a repro and those weren't fashionable in the 19th C, either. Even the peasant/working classes were aspirational.

And also, as a matter of pride, stuff got made properly . Not to say this isn't proper, but having seen a fair bit of West Country and other rural stuff, this looks typical of earlier pieces. Might be into the 17th but I doubt it's any later.