one-piece construction with water/bucket bench base, the upper section having projecting one-board top with beveled edge profile above three layers of applied beaded molding to frieze, over three fixed shelves with molded plate rails though-mortised at the ends, the lower case having two fixed open shelves, the whole flanked by solid ends with semi-circular cut-out uprights at medial shelf, and boot-jack profile at base. Retaining an outstanding, original, dry painted surface. Reserve. Found in Guilford Co., NC. Second half 18th century. 82" HOA, 59 1/2" WOA, 20" DOA.
Literature: For another dresser/cupboard of nearly identical form see MESDA Object Database NCP-7-110, S-29050. It was found in a log house in Yadkin Co., north of East Bend, NC.
Provenance: From the Eddie Tatum estate collection, Winston-Salem, NC.
Catalog Note: An important example of its type, the present dish dresser/tavern cupboard is remarkable for its early date of manufacture and fine state of preservation. Likely made by a house joiner or carpenter in a region that was then still very much on the fringes of the frontier, the present form satisfied both practical needs and aesthetic expectations, giving the backcountry homeowner not only a physical space to store utilitarian objects but also a platform upon which to display what were often considered prized material possessions. Rooted in vernacular furniture traditions of the British Isles, the present example was probably crafted by an immigrant or early settler of Scots-Irish descent and stands as a stylistic antecedent to the more brightly decorated examples produced in the region by succeeding generations, which incorporate more overtly Germanic iconography and construction methods. 18th-century Southern backcountry dish dressers are exceedingly rare - to discover an example retaining original surface, such as the present form, is almost unheard of.
The MESDA worksheet for the cupboard referenced above notes "...few of these cupboards survived the years... making them a rare treasure, especially those from the eighteenth century."
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