{"product_id":"carved-quartersawn-oak-mirror-back-sideboard-paw-feet-c-1895-1910","title":"Carved Quartersawn Oak Mirror-Back Sideboard, Paw Feet, c. 1895–1910","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn American mirror-back sideboard in quartersawn oak, the full two-part form of the golden oak dining room: a serpentine-front case below and a tall carved gallery above with a beveled mirror and a pair of small display shelves. The gallery is the showpiece. A fan-carved shell crest rises from the center of the top rail, and the two uprights are carved as long feathered plumes that curl outward at the top and finish at the base in acanthus leaves around a carved flower. Each upright carries a bracket shelf for a vase or a candlestick. The rectangular mirror is beveled and sits in a wide oak frame, with a second carved shell at the back of the serving surface.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe case below has the full complement of storage. A shaped top with a molded edge overhangs two small cupboard doors at either side, each with a brass keyhole escutcheon and applied carved shell and scroll ornament, flanking a pair of bowed center drawers with brass knob pulls and matching escutcheons. Below run two full-width drawers, the upper one carved across its center with a spray of scrolling foliage around a flower head, both fitted with stamped brass bail pulls on pierced backplates. The case sits on carved paw feet at the front and an egg and dart molding runs along the base. The oak is quartersawn throughout, with broad ray fleck across the drawer fronts and door panels under a warm golden finish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe piece is in remarkably clean condition. The finish is even and original in character, the mirror is bright with light age to the silvering, the carving is complete, and all the hardware appears to be present and of the period. There is none of the grime, water staining or pest damage that oak of this age picks up in a garage or barn. It is larger in scale than the run of factory sideboards of the form and has plainly spent its life indoors in a well kept house.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe mirror-back sideboard was the centerpiece of the American middle-class dining room between roughly 1895 and 1910, when quartersawn oak was the national hardwood and the big Midwestern factories in Grand Rapids, Rockford, Evansville and elsewhere competed on carving and height. The two-part form, a storage case below and a mirrored gallery with little shelves above, let a family show off its best china and silver and reflected the gaslight or early electric light back into the room. The feather-plume uprights and shell crest on this example are classic motifs of the period's catalog lines, as are the serpentine front, the applied shell and scroll ornament, the paw feet and the egg and dart base, a vocabulary that the factories borrowed from Renaissance and Colonial Revival sources and mixed freely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo maker's stamp, paper label or stencil has been found on this piece, and it is offered as an unattributed American factory sideboard. The dating rests on construction and materials rather than style alone: the quartersawn oak, the stamped brass hardware, the beveled plate mirror and the carving method are all consistent with manufacture between 1895 and 1910, and nothing about the piece suggests a later reproduction. It arrived with several other pieces of carved oak from the same period, including a carved serpentine sideboard, each of which is offered separately.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eType\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMirror-back sideboard \/ buffet with gallery\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eOrigin\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eUnited States, Midwestern factory production, unattributed\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDate\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ec. 1895–1910\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePrimary wood\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eQuartersawn white oak, solid\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMirror\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBeveled plate glass, original, light age to the silvering\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHardware\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eStamped brass bail pulls on pierced backplates, brass knob pulls, brass keyhole escutcheons\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCarving\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eShell crest, feather-plume uprights with acanthus and flower, applied shell and scroll ornament, foliate drawer front, paw feet, egg and dart base\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eConfiguration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eTwo side cupboards and two bowed center drawers over two full-width drawers; gallery with mirror and two bracket shelves\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFinish\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWarm golden oak, even and original in character\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eExceptionally clean and well kept; structurally sound; carving complete; hardware present; mirror bright\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eScale\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eLarger than typical for the form; measurements on request\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA mirror-back sideboard does the work of three pieces: storage below, a serving surface in the middle, and a mirror and display shelves above that make a dining room feel taller and brighter. This one has the height and the carving to anchor a large room on its own, and the serpentine case gives it movement that a flat-front buffet never has. It is right at home in a traditional dining room with a long table, and it is just as good as a bar back or an entry piece in a layered, collected interior where the golden oak plays against dark walls. The drawers and cupboards swallow linens, flatware and serving pieces, and the shelves want a pair of candlesticks or a vase. For a shop or designer client it is the complete, unrestored, never-abused example of the form that is getting hard to find.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67908558684265,"sku":"VE-1832","price":8750.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/Antique_Oak_Dresser_in_an_Airy_Editorial_Hallway.png?v=1793424878","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/carved-quartersawn-oak-mirror-back-sideboard-paw-feet-c-1895-1910","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}