Wardrobe
Culture: Columbus, Texas
Date: ca.1880
Dimensions:
h. 93 1/2 in. (237.5 cm); w. 56 1/2 in. (143.5 cm); d. 29 in. (73.7 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Faith and Charles Bybee
Object number: 92.60.9
Provenance: Columbus, Texas
Label Text
Wardrobes offered the cabinetmaker an opportunity to display his ability in both construction and decoration in a large, imposing architectural piece of furniture. In this example, colorful contrasting panels and applied turned balustrades and moldings present a vivid surface reminiscent of the Germanic baroque style, a revival created on the frontier. Other Germanic features include the heavy, framed construction; thick, beveled panels and drawers, and the shaping of the pediment with a central mirrored section at the top. Die-struck rosettes are applied to the front of this elaborately molded piece of furniture. Designed to disassemble, the wardrobe has separate crest, top, base, and side sections. The base and top are joined with dovetails while the other sections are mortise and tenoned together with panels attached by screws.
This wardrobe shows a marked affinity to the work of Johann Peter Tatsch, a Prussian born craftsman active ca. 1852-1885 in Fredericksburg, Texas. The name Dasch could be an incorrect transcription of the name Tatsch.
(Label text, 2008 - Louisa D. Bartlett, Decorative arts consultant based in Mendenhall, Pennsylvania)
As settlers flocked to Texas during its incarnations as a republic and then a state, the need for furniture grew along with the population. The cost of importing furniture from other parts of the United States or Europe was prohibitive; thus, 19th century Texans often designed and built to suit their own needs, relying especially on the influx of craftsmen from Germany. Although the forms of Texas furniture closely resemble case and seating furniture used elsewhere, they are made of woods native to the state such as pine and walnut, and are embellished with less expensive decorations, such as simpler porcelain pulls for drawers. The objects on view were once owned by Houstonian Faith L. Bybee, a passionate collector of American furniture and decorative arts who embraced the styles of her native state as well as examples of design from the Eastern Seaboard.
(Texas Gallery, 2018)
This wardrobe shows a marked affinity to the work of Johann Peter Tatsch, a Prussian born craftsman active ca. 1852-1885 in Fredericksburg, Texas. The name Dasch could be an incorrect transcription of the name Tatsch.
(Label text, 2008 - Louisa D. Bartlett, Decorative arts consultant based in Mendenhall, Pennsylvania)
As settlers flocked to Texas during its incarnations as a republic and then a state, the need for furniture grew along with the population. The cost of importing furniture from other parts of the United States or Europe was prohibitive; thus, 19th century Texans often designed and built to suit their own needs, relying especially on the influx of craftsmen from Germany. Although the forms of Texas furniture closely resemble case and seating furniture used elsewhere, they are made of woods native to the state such as pine and walnut, and are embellished with less expensive decorations, such as simpler porcelain pulls for drawers. The objects on view were once owned by Houstonian Faith L. Bybee, a passionate collector of American furniture and decorative arts who embraced the styles of her native state as well as examples of design from the Eastern Seaboard.
(Texas Gallery, 2018)
On view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
