The antique dressers found in mansions and large town houses were utilitarian structures in painted softwood kept below stairs, required merely to hold utensils. By contrast, in farmhouses and cottages the dresser was in the principal living room (the cegin which served as a kitchen and often a bedroom as well) on view to family, neighbours and visitors. It combined practical and decorative functions, had often been acquired at marriage or was a valued heirloom, and projected the pridethe owners felt in theirhome.

The origins of the dresser as we know it today started in the mid-17th century, when inventories show that the better-off farmers in each districtwere acquiring more furniture and had access to prestigious and decorative pewterware anddelftware. The forerunners were plain cupboards and side tables, wall-hanging shelves and even slatted food crates which hung from the ceiling. As a type, it emerged in various regions of Wales in different forms.

Antique Welsh pine dog kennel dresser
with original painted finish,
Pembrokeshire, Circa 1890

(This Dresser is in Stock - Click Picture for Details)

This was a golden age in the production of Welsh furniture, with larger homes containing a greater variety of pieces. The increased demand was not fulfilled by urban workshops, as it was in most of England, even though market towns such as Carmarthen contained successful cabinet-making firms. The furniture makers were primarily local village joiners who used native timber and were neighboursif not relatives of theircustomers. As with their other products, the dressers were in essence functional pieces but they were intendedto be on public display and often included decorative flourishes such as shaped friezes at the top and shaped aprons below the drawers. The better ones had rows of additional 'spice' drawers (for medicinal herbs), elaborate fretwork and occasionally flowing inlaid patterns.

By the early years of the 19th century, even the cottages of smallholders andfarm labourershad a dresser, often of a plainer type and sometimes in the less expensive deal (grained to simulate oak), but always covered in gaily-coloured copper lusterware and blue-and-white jugs and dishes. The dresser survived the coming of industrialization and the availability of cheap manufactured articles; alongside the chiffoniers and mirrored-back sideboards produced for parlours, many industrial homes in the valleys continued to require a dresser in their living room. Newer styles with glazed racks over enclosed bases, often with a dog-kennel to hold a sewing machine, continued to evolve into the 20th century.

Antique Welsh oak potboard dresser,
South Wales, Circa 1710

(This Dresser is in Stock - Click Picture for Details)

In many households the earlier dressers remained important to their owners and were often moved into front parlours or dining rooms. The displays were changed and augmented, with each generation adding keepsakes and souvenirs as well as family photos. From the early years of the 20th century, as their local production was coming to an end, they became sought-after by middle-class urban home owners who recognized their intrinsic values of honest workmanship and also perhaps their evocation of a more tranquil rural past, with which many identified. These same ideas continue to influence many people, particularly if they feel a strong association with a specific locality or with Welsh heritage in general.

The perpetual demand for these pieces over such a long period does, however, merit a caution. The National Museum of Wales noted in 1918 that even at that date certain sought-after styles were being "made-up" and in the ensuing years this became something of a minor industry. Such fakes and "marriages" abound in the market, some now obviously having acquired signs of age in their own right.

© 2010 Richard Bebb
All rights reserved. No part of this site/page may be reproduced, stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Richard Bebb.

Images taken from Richard Bebb's publication :
Welsh Furniture 1250-1950 : A Cultural History of Craftsmanship and Design published by Saer Books 2007