Berks County, Pennsylvania Painted Schrank
Additional Title(s)
- Clothespress
- Kleiderschrank
- Kas
ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS
Date1790-1800
Mediumpainted wood
Dimensions81 × 60 × 21 3/4 in. (205.7 × 152.4 × 55.2 cm.)
InscribedInscribed in center of cornice in black paint: 17 PHILIP DE TÜK 75
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from Jonathan and Karin Fielding
Label TextThis is a Schrank, the German word for wardrobe or cabinet. Made at a time when built-in closets were rare in American homes, it would have been the centerpiece of a bed chamber or main room in a Pennsylvania house. It has interior hooks for hanging clothing and drawers for storing folded linens.The inscription at the top of this Schrank contains the name Philip De Tük (De Turk) (1757–1815) and the date 1775, which probably refers to the year he turned 18. His family likely commissioned it from the cabinetmaker Jacob Beiber or his son John, whose family owned a sawmill next to De Tük's property in Lobachsville in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Both families were Huguenot (French Protestant) immigrants who lived in the mostly German-settled areas of the region.
Status
On viewObject number2018.10
Ferdinand A. Brader
1882
Object number: 2016.25.98
