Folk Art of Europe & Rest of World »
Early Box Table in Oak
Ref: 2312
It′s plausible to think of Time in a less ′universalist′ way and regard different tribes, peoples and cultures, as sometimes living concurrently in different stages or periods of technological advancement. So in a sense one can say, as visitors to parts of Eastern Europe did 90 yrs ago, that there are people here living in the medieval age and yet also in the age of the Railway.
When the railway came, after a certain period of persistent infection, modernity, and a new "object culture" and technological means arrives and changes things irredeemably, but nevertheless one can see that in the time-pockets of the mountains of Europe there were country people who for a couple of centuries at least were hung over in time and making furniture and artifacts that to a Western eye reading from the book they would have to define as pre-Shakespearian.
This antique box table with a hand hewn walnut two piece top and pegged oak base is such an example. Items like this are sometimes bought from us to make real big budget period movies like "Robin Hood the Early Days" or "Hobbit the Sequel" and then at the end of filming get bought by a Hollywood star for their newly acquired but never to be visited Scottish holiday home or else get burned in a conflagration at the denouement of the movie which is a crying shame. But really they should go to a museum or to a collector seeking rare and fascinating pieces of old European folk art and history.
Eastern Europe 18th cent.
H: 70cm (27.6in)
W: 88cm (34.6in)
D: 80cm (31.5in)
SOLD
Print Back