Late 18th Century Scandinavian Pine Buffett

Late 18th Century Scandinavian Pine Buffett

The rectangular moulded top with canted front corners, above two frieze drawers mounted with pierced brass scroll escutcheons, over a pair of cupboard doors, each with a fielded panel of shaped cartouche outline with incurved corners, hung on iron fiche hinges and enclosing a shelved interior, flanked by canted moulded stiles, the sides similarly panelled, on a serpentine moulded plinth with shaped apron and bracket feet; the pine now stripped and waxed.

Scandinavian, circa 1800

A Handsome and Tall model with a lovely soft colour

Note: The boldly shaped door panels, with their characteristic incurved corners and raised moulded borders, reflect the absorption of French Rococo forms into the northern European vernacular during the reigns of Adolf Fredrik in Sweden and Frederik V in Denmark. Such buffets were typically executed in native pine and originally painted, often in pale grey, green or ochre, in imitation of more sophisticated town furniture. The canted front stiles, serpentine plinth and robust bracket feet are hallmarks of provincial production across the Baltic region, where the Rococo persisted well into the later decades of the century. Stripped examples such as this are now much sought after for the warmth and figure of the timber.