Lot 563
ERNEST GIMSON (1864-1919)
LARGE DRESSER, CIRCA 1917
Auction: Day Two inc FL Griggs : A Cotswold Legacy | Lots 334 to 654 | Thursday 16th October from 10am
Description
oak, with cut steel hinges
"The quality of workmanship that has been achieved in this cabinet is testament to the skill of its maker Peter Waals who worked on the cabinet himself from June 1917 to Jan 1918 with some input from apprentices - the price was £70.8.0. Designed by Ernest Gimson with great subtlety for his friend F.L. Griggs it has not been offered to the market before now. The multiple bowed front and carved details and well-matched timbers lend the piece a vitality and lightness which is remarkable for such a substantial piece of furniture." - John Mackie, Head of Design
Dimensions
230.5cm wide, 221cm high, 66cm deep
Provenance
Commissioned by F.L. Griggs and made in the workshops at Daneway House, Sapperton.
Then by family descent, see lot 549 for more details
Footnote
Literature: Lethaby W. R.; Powell A. H.; Griggs, F.L. Ernest Gimson; His Life & Work, London 1924, p. 41 and pl. 21, where the working drawing for this piece, ‘A Large Dresser’, is illustrated.
Comino M. Gimson and the Barnsleys: Wonderful Furniture of a Commonplace Kind, Evans Brothers Ltd 1980, p.153, fig. 119 where this piece is illustrated.
Carruthers A., Greensted M., Roscoe B. Ernest Gimson: Arts & Crafts Designer and Architect, Yale 2019, p.226
The Wilson, Cheltenham record nos. 1941.222.277, 1941.222.669 and 1941.222.677
Mary Greensted (nee Comino) comments in her 1980 publication Gimson and the Barnsleys “F. L. M. Griggs (also) commissioned an oak dresser, from Gimson, for his house at Chipping Campden. This piece was designed with great subtlety, giving an overall impression of simplicity whilst avoiding all the pitfalls of heaviness and clumsiness inherent in this type of traditional 'cottage' furniture. This was achieved partly through the variations in the outline - the dresser has a slight bow-front whilst the upper part has a shallow break-front - partly through the quality of the wood and the workmanship, particularly noticeable in the mitred and cushioned shaping of the cupboard doors, and partly through the vitality of the gouged decoration”.
This fine dresser is well recorded in several records held at The Wilson in Cheltenham, one a finished drawing and the others tracings, showing different details.
The job book entry on page 35 states ‘Oak sideboard for F. L. Griggs’. It was made by Peter Waals himself from June 1917 to Jan 1918 with some input from apprentices and the price paid was £70.8.0.
