Antique Painted Wardrobe in Pine, Central Europe, 1835

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This antique painted wardrobe in pine wood is a Central European peasant wardrobe with a single door, polychrome floral decoration … Read more This antique painted wardrobe in pine wood is a Central European peasant wardrobe with a single door, polychrome floral decoration and the date 1835 painted on the front. It originates from Central Europe during the Austro-hungarian Empire, from the Biedermeier period, where mountain pine was painted in distemper over a marbled ground.In the Alpine farmhouse the single-door wardrobe was the most valuable piece in the bedroom: it held the feast-day costume and the bed linen, and was frequently painted on the occasion of a wedding. The date on the front does not date the timber but the event that prompted the commission.The case is solid pine with a back of vertical boards. A single two-panel door closes with an iron lock and its original key. The unpainted interior retains the hanging rail and a high shelf. The cornice overhangs on an ogee moulding and the piece stands on four tapered feet.The ground is a dark blue-green sponged in marbling, over which the repertoire of Alpine Bauernmalerei unfolds. The two panels carry vases with sprays of tulips and fantasy flowers in red, white and pink. The central rail shows a garland of fruit — apples, grapes, strawberries — an emblem of abundance. The cornice carries a running border of red tulips and the stiles, garlands of white narcissi and orange buds. The sides repeat isolated rosettes. The date 1835 is painted in white figures of calligraphic stroke on the upper panel.The painting retains almost its whole surface, with losses concentrated on the edge of the cornice and along the arrises of the case, where the wood shows through. The green has darkened and the reds have gained depth. There is no repaint: what is seen is the hand of 1835.At 180 cm high and only 108 across the front, it fits a bedroom or an entrance hall without dominating the room. It works as the single piece of colour in white interiors, and equally as a working wardrobe in a country house. See less