Featured The mysterious origin of our China Hutch

Hi All!

Anybody familiar with this style of furniture? We are curious about the origin of one of our favorite objects.

We bought it circa 1996 from Red Hen Antiques (iirc) near Petaluma, CA. We saw it on sale for $1400 on Valentines day, but passed. A week or two later we could not forget it and at our urging the shop called the owner who agreed to accept our offer of the V Day sale price.

It is 3 pieces, the top box with glass, the middle shelf portion with the columns, and the bottom box. The glass is replaced but the hardware appears original. One drawer pull needed a nut on the back but the other is the original old nut. It was missing the interior shelves so I got some red oak planks that looked nice. My recollection is "Paris" was stamped on the lock mechanism, but when taking these pics I could not find it. The wood is beautiful, quarter sawn. No idea is finish is original but seems unlikely as it's in good shape.

One reason I found it interesting as the carving is obviously made using machine tools, but by hand. There is a missing cut along the scroll work near the top, in the center.

Fun story; at the time my Mother was dating a man who worked at LLNL, pretty senior in the security dept. He and his crew were unable to make a skeleton key for it.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the pics. Any info would be appreciated. I have more pics but having trouble uploading them.

 

@James Conrad Is this of any interest?

 

I have a feeling it’s from Mexico. Very pretty.

 

It's very exuberant but... I would very much doubt it's Mexican.

Debora

 

Tons of personality ! Just a thought,but to me it looks like a plain cabinet someone decided to gussy up by carving on it. I think that was a trend around 1900 or so. Id guess its European in origin,maybe German ?

 

It is oak and I agree with an early 20th century date. I think European in origin. Suppose it could be French but thinking more likely Belgian, Dutch, or German.

 

Not Dutch or Belgian. I would look further east, maybe Poland?

 

Thanks for all the replies!

Exuberant is a great word for it. Aside from a few flat side panels that show off the wood grain the surfaces are worked by machine. Like a meth head with a shop full of power tools just wigged out on it all weekend.

No expert on this all, but the sense of style is hard to pin down. Some of the little circles carved above the taller grooves on the bottom doors and along the top panel dimly resemble halos from Christian iconography. Or maybe that's just me. And the scrolling on the drawers feels like Empire. Plus it's very abstract with no naturalistic elements.

It's just fun to look at.

 

Somebody had a good time making that. Possibly a one-off custom piece, which explains why it's so hard pinning it down. I might even think South American immigrant work , but that's just a wild guess.

 

Koloman Moser. Vienna Secession/Wierner Werkstätte bookcase. 1903. Same exuberance but a (much) more sophisticated execution.

Debora

 

Oh my. Now that's a statement piece.

 

I pulled a drawer out partially (stuffed with cutlery) and found the sides and bottom are also quarter sawn, but apparently unstained.

So if I wanted a key made do I go to a locksmith or an antique shop?

 

It's probably more of a latch than a lock, so a skeleton key is all you'll need. I'd imagine buying a few antique keys and trying to see what works would be the way to go.