Cabinet

The cabinet with the look and function of a cabinetmaker's desk is a piece of furniture that we would certainly not see in a traditional peasant's house. However, the colours and themes of paintings used as decoration indicate its origin from the Pyrzyce region. It probably belonged to a person with a non-farm occupation, such as a teacher, court official or clergyman. The cabinet with a frame construction is divided into five parts. On the top, there is a drawer; the next element is a door, which can be lowered horizontally and can serve as a writing top. Inside there is a shelf and a drawer, and on their sides, there are two small drawers. Under the top, there are three additional drawers.The whole thing is painted with dark green paint, rarely used in the Pyrzyce region, which is a contrasting background for the decorations in warm, light colours of orange, white and light green. The floral compositions are distributed over the entire surface of the cabinet, and each division plane has its floral arrangement. Among the designs, the tulips painted realistically by a skilled hand stand out. The intricate construction and carefulness of the painting lead to the conclusion that this piece of furniture was probably not made and decorated in a village carpenter's workshop. It was made to order for a specific person by a skilled craftsman in a larger carpentry centre, for example, in Pyrzyce. The date 1900 indicates that the furniture was made late, which is an additional indication that it was a fashionable imitation of folk designs. What attracts attention is the full artistic taste and beautifully executed painting.

Iwona Karwowska