Antique Ebonized Colonial Revival Dresser, Five Drawers, c. 1915–1930
Viridian Eclection
The Piece
A low chest of five drawers, three short across the top over two long, standing on turned and tapered legs that spring from carved rosette blocks at the corners. The case stiles are canted and reeded, the drawer fronts are outlined in a fine carved rope moulding, and the centre of the upper long drawer carries a shaped applied cartouche in place of a keyhole escutcheon. Brass ring pulls hang from rosette backplates on the long drawers; the three short drawers take small rosette knobs.
The whole case is finished in black. It is worn the way a painted piece earns rather than the way one is distressed to order: through to pale timber along the top moulding where hands and objects have passed, on the crest of each leg turning, and along the base rail at floor level. The top has been polished by use to a soft sheen. Inside, the drawers are bare warm timber, clean and dry, and one of the short drawers retains its fitted divider, the compartmented tray meant for collars, studs and jewellery.
History & Provenance
This is American Colonial Revival bedroom furniture, the vocabulary the big case goods factories worked in from the middle of the 1910s through the 1920s: Sheraton legs, reeded corners, restrained applied carving, and hardware in the federal taste. It would have been made as part of a suite, the dresser paired with a bed, a chiffonier and a vanity, and it would originally have carried a swing mirror on posts. It is offered here as the case alone, which is how most of them are used now.
The construction places it. The drawers run on wooden side guides, the bottoms are the wide laminated panels that became the American factory standard after about 1910, and every joint is machine cut, which rules out the hand work of the previous century. The turned leg over a carved rosette block is the detail that closes the window at the other end: by the early 1930s the American trade had moved to the rounded waterfall forms of the Art Deco years, and this design vocabulary had gone.
The black is not original. Beneath the wear the timber shows light, and the finish sits over the carved mouldings rather than under them. Ebonizing a piece like this is an old and honest practice, and in this case it is the making of the object: it turns a common brown dresser into something that reads as architecture.
Product Details
| Era | c. 1915–1930. The laminated drawer bottoms and wholly machine cut joinery place it after the American factories standardised, around 1910; the Colonial Revival vocabulary of turned legs on carved rosette blocks, reeded canted stiles and federal ring pulls belongs to the later 1910s and the 1920s and had given way to waterfall Art Deco forms by the early 1930s |
| Origin | American, factory made |
| Form | Low dresser, three short drawers over two long, turned tapered legs on carved rosette blocks, reeded canted stiles, carved rope moulding to the drawer fronts |
| Finish | Ebonized, applied later than manufacture, with honest wear through to the timber at the edges, leg turnings and base rail |
| Fittings | Brass ring pulls on rosette plates to the long drawers, rosette knobs to the short drawers, one short drawer with its original fitted compartment divider |
| Marks | No maker's label or stamp found in the drawers or on the case |
| Dimensions | Approximately 44 in. wide by 20 in. deep by 34 in. high |
| Condition | Good and structurally sound. Standing true, drawers running freely on their wooden guides, interiors clean and dry with no odour. Paint worn through to timber at the top moulding, the leg turnings and the base rail, and lightly chipped at the top edge. Hardware complete and original to the piece. Offered without a mirror. |
Why It Belongs in Your Home
Black furniture solves problems that brown furniture creates. It does not have to match anything, it recedes until you want to look at it, and it makes whatever sits on top of it, a lamp, a bowl, a stack of books, read as deliberate. At around waist height and nearly four feet wide this works as a bedroom dresser, but it works just as well in an entry taking keys and post, under a television, or in a dining room as a server. The rope moulding and the reeded corners are what keep it from being a plain box: they catch a raking light and give the black some depth.
Every piece is packed with professional-grade materials: multiple foam layers, double-boxing, directional and fragile handling labels. For large furniture we use custom timber crating. We photograph packing before dispatch and can provide images on request.
White-glove delivery is complimentary within 100 miles of Reno, NV. National shipping quotes provided at checkout. All shipments are photographed and documented. Damage claims must be filed with the carrier; we provide all documentation needed to support your claim.
Local pickup is available at Viridian HQ (Reno, NV) with 2–4 days notice. Contact us to arrange. Private viewings also available.
All antique and vintage items are sold as described and all sales are final. Each listing includes detailed condition notes and photographs so you can make a fully informed decision. We encourage buyers to ask questions — about condition, dimensions, finish, provenance — before purchasing.
Antiques are irreplaceable and one-of-a-kind. Carrier handling is outside our control once a piece has left our facility, and major carriers including FedEx do not insure antiques. We do everything within our power to ensure safe transit, but cannot accept liability for carrier damage. If damage occurs in transit, we will provide full documentation to support your carrier claim.
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