March Interiors
Timed Online Auction, 20 March - 2 April 2025
Furniture
About this Item
A mahogany apprentice chest of drawers, 19th century
the rectangular moulded top above four long drawers fitted with brass drop handles, brass carrying handles to the sides, on bracket feet, 56cm high, 54cm wide, 34cm deep
Notes
Apprentice pieces were used by travelling salesmen as prototypes for the full-size version. Workshops would send out salesmen on lengthy country-wide tours with a miniature of each piece on his sales cart. This meant the cabinet maker could use the smaller form to show off his skills, without the salesman having to transport a full-size piece of furniture wherever he went. Using exactly the same skills and techniques as used on the full-sized pieces, the miniatures offered a fantastic way of potential buyers being able to get a feel of the quality of goods the workshop produced, before committing to a purchase… much like a real life catalogue.
More from March Interiors
An Anglo-Indian padouk military chest, 19th century
ZAR 14 000 - 16 000
A Victorian mahogany chest of drawers, late 19th century
ZAR 8 000 - 10 000
A walnut apprentice chest of drawers, 19th century
ZAR 1 500 - 2 000
A walnut bombé apprentice chest of drawers, 19th century
ZAR 1 200 - 1 500
An Arts and Crafts mahogany canterbury, 19th century
ZAR 2 000 - 4 000
A pair of Georgian style mahogany carvers, early 19th century
ZAR 3 000 - 5 000
