1880s Arts & Crafts Dresser Mission Oak Style

Description

Original Medieval-influenced English Arts & Crafts oak chest of five drawers based on an 1874-1876 creation by Owen William Davis … more Original Medieval-influenced English Arts & Crafts oak chest of five drawers based on an 1874-1876 creation by Owen William Davis for James Shoolbred & Co.

One may view a similar chest design next to the bed in the 1876 Shoolbred catalog page included here.

Chest has two small side-by-side drawers at top followed by three full-length drawers below. The drawers are accessed by tugging on the copper-plated Arts & Crafts pulls.

The carcass stands atop an oak wood plinth base.

Dresser is constructed with quarter sawn ("tiger") oak.

The slat back indicates an 1870s construction.

Keys are provided for the drawer secure lever brass locks.

SIZE:

42" wide
21" deep
42" high


About Owen William Davis:

Owen William Davis was a prolific and versatile designer who could work in many styles. He contributed designs to Richard Charles's "Cabinet Maker" in 1868 and the "Building News".

Davis first worked for James Shoolbred when he created designs for Shoolbred's first furniture catalogue released in 1874. This catalog became a pattern book utilized by furniture makers, much as Thomas Chippendale's "The Gentleman and Cabinetmaker's Director".

He proceeded to design the principal part of the furniture and fittings for Shoolbred's display at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.

In 1885, the book "Art and Work: As Shown in Several Artistic Industries..." by Davis was published.


About James Shoolbred:

James Shoolbred was a native of Scotland who came to London as a young man and was educated at the Orphan Working School of, then, City Road.

Shoolbred then worked for a wholesale firm in London where he gained a thorough knowledge of the drapery business.

He commenced business as Shoolbred, Cook, and Company in Tottenham House (now Parliament Court), at the northern end of Tottenham-Court-Road, in 1822, as was promoted in later advertising schemes. At that time, this was a semi-rural locality that was eventually filled in with stately buildings and streets dedicated to commerce.

Shoolbred ran a small, but respectable, draper's shop and by 1831 the first expansion took place.

Shoolbred employed six workers during the first twenty years of business; however, by 1841 the business had experienced rapid growth into seven large establishments, aside from the main building, that housed specialty departments, and the personnel count jumped to two-thousand!

Shoolbred's department store eventually opened and featured electric lights, operated by their own power, and three passenger lifts. The store sold everything: furniture, carpets of their own manufacture, clothing, textiles, accessories, and even delivered groceries!

Shoolbred stayed ahead of the furniture game by producing annual catalogs and by creating vignettes of furniture suites in his store so that shoppers could envision how the pieces would look in a room and try out the comfort of the designs. These are two things that furniture stores still practice today.

The Shoolbred cabinet work was known to be elegant and attractive, rich in new designs, forms, and materials.

Jas Shoolbred was granted a Royal warrant by the mid-1880s and their furniture was of the best quality available in the late Victorian period.

James Shoolbred passed in 1881, but his operations continued into the 1930s. The financial crash of 1929 forced closures of many businesses, and Shoolbred's was one of them. less