Dear Helaine and Joe: I believe my cabinet, with its black and green painted designs, is made from mahogany. I am not sure what its intended use was. It has been in my family for at least 50 years and is in great condition. I would appreciate any information you can provide. —M.G., Harvey, Ill.
Dear M.G.: M.G.'s piece is a blind door cupboard — "blind door" meaning that the doors are solid and do not have glass fronts. There is a central cabinet with an arched top flanked by two other cabinets that are rectangular with flat tops.
These sections are surmounted with elaborate crests in a form that is based on the French Rococo style of the mid-18th century. "Rococo" is derived from the French word "rocaille," which means "rock-work," and it was first applied to describe the grottos and fountains located in the gardens at the Palace of Versailles.
Rococo is characterized by the use of such decorative elements as "C" scrolls and depictions of rocks, shells, fruit, flowers, ribbons and acanthus leaves. On the piece belonging to M.G., the large carved shell on the front of the stand, plus the elaborate acanthus leaf carvings and abundant "C" scrolls, all indicate a rococo influence.
The top part of this piece is painted green with elaborate chinoiserie — or Chinese style — designs that include everything from pagodas to human figures.
All this rests on a stand that appears to have been carved from some sort of dark wood such as mahogany. This base has cabriole ("S" curved) legs carved at the tops with three dimensional female heads.
Yes, this is a very ornate piece of furniture and there is very little doubt in our minds that it originated sometime before the beginning of the Great Depression, say circa 1925. At that time there were only a few American manufacturers who might have made a piece such as this, but one of them might have been the Rockford Peerless Furniture Co. of Rockford, Ill.
They manufactured lamps, lampshades, chests of drawers, desks and secretaries, tables and cabinets — some of which look somewhat like the one pictured here. This is not to say that Rockford Peerless made this piece, but they did produce furniture in this style, as did one or two other companies.
We wish we could see inside this piece because that might help establish whether the original intended purpose was to be a china cabinet (our first supposition) or a silver cabinet. Typically, a silver cabinet would have some drawers for the storage of flat silver, and we have no idea about the drawer configuration on this cabinet.
We should mention that our initial impression of this piece was that it was once part of a 10-piece dining room grouping (table, six chairs, buffet, server and china cabinet), but after some research we are not so sure. We have found some companies, including Rockford Peerless, that just made cabinets, and we feel this piece might very well have always been a single piece instead of part of a suite of furniture.
This is a very nice cabinet with a lot of panache, and its insurance replacement value is between $2,000 and $2,500.
Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of the "Price It Yourself" (HarperResource, $19.95). Questions can be mailed to them at P.O. Box 12208, Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.