South African Design: Past & Present

Timed Online Auction, 13 June - 9 July 2025

Cape Interiors: Furniture, Metalware, Silver & Glass
About the Session

This sale traces the heritage of South African design across centuries of creative expression highlighting diverse design objects through two sessions. Uniting the sessions is a celebration of the versatility of materials - metal, wood, glass, clay, fibre - and how artists and artisans have transformed them over time into works of wonder, rich in both tradition and innovation.


  • A Cape Neo-classical stinkwood rusbank, 19th century
  • A Cape Neo-classical stinkwood rusbank, 19th century
  • A Cape Neo-classical stinkwood rusbank, 19th century


Lot Estimate Change Currency
ZAR 15 000 - 18 000

About this Item

A Cape Neo-classical stinkwood rusbank, 19th century
the open rectangular back with plain top rail above four conforming pierced slats and plain bottom rail, riempie seat, on square-section tapering legs joined by an H-stretcher, 182cm long

Notes

The Cape country rusbank followed the stylistic features of Cape chairs. This fiddle-back type of split-splat rusbank appears in the form of a series of chairs, rather than a settee and was in vogue in the early 19th century.

Whilst most early Cape pieces were influenced by European furniture, the rusbank is typically South African and was used as seating for the stoep and hall areas.



More from South African Design: Past & Present

A Cape stinkwood and yellowwood peg-top table, late 18th century
A Cape stinkwood and yellowwood peg-top table, late 18th century
ZAR 12 000 - 14 000
A Cape Neo-classical stinkwood, teak and fruitwood rusbank, early 19th century
A Cape Neo-classical stinkwood, teak and fruitwood rusbank, early 19th century
ZAR 40 000 - 50 000
A Cape stinkwood armchair, 19th century
A Cape stinkwood armchair, 19th century
ZAR 8 000 - 10 000
A brass konfoor, 19th century
A brass konfoor, 19th century
ZAR 18 000 - 20 000
A Cape teak and brass-bound balie and cover, late 19th century
A Cape teak and brass-bound balie and cover, late 19th century
ZAR 3 000 - 5 000
A Transvaal brass Imperial peck measure, 1896
A Transvaal brass Imperial peck measure, 1896
ZAR 20 000 - 25 000