Featured Another gothic revival... but how old?

Hello! I happened across a dealer who just returned from a buying trip in Belgium and I fell in love with this piece. The dealer said it’s French and estimated it dates from the early 1900s. After getting it home I am starting to think it might date earlier than that. I was hoping some of you could tell me if my logic is correct or if this is, in fact, a 20th century piece.
The most obvious thing I noticed is that it’s entirely pegged construction, and the pegs are not round but pretty irregular (the nails look like they came from a later repair).
Also, the carving appears to be hand done, as it is not perfectly symmetrical and I found what looks like tool marks all over.
The biggest thing that suggest to me it’s older is the door itself. It is constructed using bow tie dovetails. The panel on the door has shrunk, however, and it looks like as a repair the dovetails on one side were cut through and a thin strip of wood added to fill the gap. What is interesting is it looks like the door continued to shrink after that, widening the gap even after the repair.
The dealer estimated early 1900 because the unfinished back of the piece was “too smooth,” suggesting later machine-planning was used. However, the bevels for those panels on the back are not even close to straight and I found what appears to be sawblade marks on the back, they are straight and not circular. I also pulled a screw from the door hinge looks like it might match an example from the early 1800s I found online.
So, thoughts? It certainly seems older than 20th century given the uneven bevels, uneven edges, the wood shrinkage, woodworm holes, and method of construction... but could I be mistaken? Is it possible this dates to the time of the actual gothic revival movement in France? I attached a few images, including the lock that might or might not be original and a look at the hand beveling on the back panel. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks! -Grey

 

Oh, and I was wondering if you all think this is actually French or if it originated somewhere else. Whatever its origin I love the piece, but I am really curious if it might actually be from mid-1800s France. I’ve done a lot of searching for French gothic revival period furniture and I’m just not seeing anything that resembles this. It looks very ”churchy,” could it be from one of the gothic revival churches built at the time?
I’ll try and add some pictures of the “saw” and tool marks I found as well, my eye is still inexperienced. Thanks, I really appreciate this group!

 

I'd guess the dealer is correct, early 20th century. Many confuse band saw tool marks as earlier saw marks because they are straight and make marks similar to 17th century water powered sash saws. The bowtie joints on door panel are a common method to repair cracks/splits in wood and the door panel itself looks machine planed to me although edges were hand planed, probably when panel was being repaired with those bowties.

 

I'd think late 19th into early 20th. It all looks a bit too considered to be much older. I've seen similar carving on British pieces, fwiw.

 

Oh my god, it's absolutely gorgeous. I would have fallen in love with it in an instant!

 

With the others on this as to age.

 

It's a handsome piece.

 

A great piece, and as the others said, early 20th century. Belgian or southern Dutch.
The Gothic Revival style continued much longer in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium and the neighbouring southern Netherlands because it was seen as having a strong connection with their traditions and cultural identity.

 

Beautiful piece of furniture you have. The variety of design reinterpretation in Gothic's second life which followed Pugin's revival introduction in the 1840's would have few limits for the next 90 years. By the time it was over, Gothic revival even permeated into household objects including electronics, clocks, radios, etc. I have one of these, a 1932 Grigby-Grunow console radio with real back lit stained glass and pipe organ grill.

 

Hi Grey and Welcome.
Nice piece but I wonder what it is used for? Can we see inside? It would look grand in an old church, and I wonder if it might have been a closet used to hang Sunday or religious robes. What did the dealer call it?

 

James, Owned, AJ, all of you! Thank you so much for the input! I had never considered that the dovetails could, themselves, have been a repair and not the original build! I’m very much still honing my eye when it comes to judging the age of a piece, and all of your comments have been very enlightening. Thank you! So it would seem I have a thing for Belgian antiques as the last cabinet I bought ended up being of Mechelen design. I’ll have to do more research on them! Still, I’m quite happy with this one, I found this particular application of gothic embellishments very artistically done! Thanks again!

 

James, here are some pics of some of the saw marks I found, one from the back of the cabinet, one from the side, and one from a shelf inside. So these are what I would typically find with band saw tool marks? Is there a particular characteristic I should look for? Thanks!

 

Thanks AuDragon! I’m not sure what it was used for either. Here are pics of the inside. The shelves and braces all appear to be oak, like the cabinet, but its construction makes it possible they were added later. However, I don’t see any evidence of any kind of racks, hangers, braces, etc so that suggests to me it was always intended to have shelves. What the shelves were used for... only my imagination can say. Still, it certainly has the look of something used in a church.
The dealer didn’t have any real info to share, only that he believes it was previously used in a shop as it came to him covered in glitter and decorated for Christmas, lol. Still cleaning up the glitter, as a matter of fact.

 

Well, thing is, an in person examination is required to be sure about old furniture, there is no one thing to look for, you just have to be around & handle the furniture/style that appeals to you. The last pic of "saw marks" actually look like "chatter" planing marks, that's the problem with pic's & old furniture, the camera lies! not sure exactly why. Construction details that are easy to see in person somehow fail the camera.
Those brackets for shelves are circa 1900 in USA, dunno about over there.

 

I would guess a linen closet/cupboard if it always had those brackets/ shelves. It's an attractive gothic style cupboard, ENJOY!

 

Thanks Grey. You'll start a whole new train of comments now that your cat has made it into the pictures! People here love animals, maybe that why they are so nice.
The adjustable shelve racks are in such detail. That's a nice piece of workmanship - and patience. As James said, closet or cupboard, or because it has the key and a lock you could let your imagination go with a precious manuscript cupboard, library book storage, valuable linen closet or gentleman's storage. A really nice piece.

 

We had another thread recently about a Gothic revival cupboard that you might find worth your time.
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/im-in-love-with-a-carved-hutch-and-i-dont-care-who-knows-it.31739/

 

Many get hung up on the age of old furniture, that's a mistake in my view, the fact is value wise it really doesn't matter if your cupboard is 1880 or 1930. It's either a period piece or not and since the Gothic furniture period was 12th-15th century or medieval, it's plain your cupboard isn't period. Don't focus on age as THE most desirable factor, that's a lost cause in my view and kinda misses the point. You either have an emotional reaction to a piece or not and the most important factor is, having interesting pieces to live with.

 

This one could have been made in Mechelen as well. They worked mostly in oak. I believe they still do.

They were also in my mother's 1950s Gothic Revival bookcase (southern Dutch).

 

Which, because of your hoarding, you had no room for!
Yeah, i don't doubt it on those brackets, especially if custom made. These days it's usually just holes that one can insert pins in to hold shelves.
Tell you what, if forum is any indication, Gothic style is on the COME BACK TRAIL! that's second poster in a month.