Berks County, Pennsylvania Painted Schrank

Images(6)

Berks County, Pennsylvania Painted Schrank

Maker Unknown, American, 18th Century

Additional Title(s)

Kas
Clothespress
Kleiderschrank

Collections

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

Status

On view

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.

Object number2018.10