Accession Number

997.012.001.004a-b

Description

A circa 1875 American black walnut renaissance-revival styled commode, part of a four-piece suite forming this accession, the commode with one cupboard door and one drawer. There is a white and grey mottled marble top with slightly rounded corners. The cupboard door has single moulding in a dome shape applied to a recessed panel. The door has a round wooden disc with a hole in it for a key. The kick plate around the base has brown castors attached the rounded corners. The single drawer has an applied moulding in an elongated oval shape. At its centre is a drawer-pull in the form of a clump of figs with two leaves. There is a recessed panel on each side trimmed in moulding.

Narrative

This bedroom suite was collected for display in room 302, also known as the sixth bedroom or Effie's bedroom, at Craigdarroch Castle. It is the only period room in the Castle that was restored by The Castle Society from scratch, with pieces deliberately acquired for display in it.

The 1909 Craigdarroch auction catalogue description guided the selection of this walnut bedroom suite. The rationale for its choice included the hypothesis that Mr. and Mrs. Dunsmuir acquired much of their furniture in the United States and that they tended to keep their furniture and merely added to their collection as the sizes of their domiciles increased. It is a pattern seen in the choice made by their son James in his history of use of an American bedroom suite (see: 997.009 https://collection.thecastle.ca/Detail/objects/7590)

History of Use

This bedroom suite was probably made in Grand Rapids, Michigan in about 1875. It purchased by The Castle Society from J. Hill Antiques of San Francisco in 1997. The dealer had acquired it from a gentleman who stated that he had acquired it from the owner of an old house in the Los Angeles, California area. 

Date

circa 1875

Dimensions

71.3 x 48 x 49.4 cm

Material

Wood, walnut; Stone, marble

Technique

Sawn; Milled; Carved; Varnished

School/Style

Renaissance Revival

Country of Origin

United States of America