Treasures in your attic: Cupboard’s value depends on which ‘Revival’ period it imitates

Q. I have had this cupboard for years, but no longer need it. I have often wondered about its style and value. I would appreciate any input you might have.

A. The enclosed photographs for this cupboard are very good as far as they go. However, they do not show us how this piece is constructed.

This means that we have to make our judgments about age and origins based on the style and quality of the carvings, the type of hinges used and the overall look of the piece — and these indications can be deceiving. We feel fairly comfortable that this cupboard is from the first quarter of the 20th century — say, circa 1920.

Furniture makers in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries became quite good at adapting and imitating earlier furniture styles, and the piece in today’s question owes a lot to the tastes of the German Renaissance as well as the English Jacobean period. All of these so-called “Revival” styles can be quite confusing — especially when they look really old, like the piece in today’s question.

There is no question that the cupboard is a “Revival” piece — but which “Revival,” exactly? It is certainly not “Rococo Revival” with its curves and naturalistic fruit and flower carvings, or “Renaissance Revival” with its massive presence, elaborate carving and motifs that hark back to Greek and Roman times.

This piece looks nothing like these commonly seen “Victorian Revival” styles; instead, it has more of a medieval look. This is probably what might be referred to as “Jacobean Revival,” a late-Victorian/early-20th-century style (to the 1930s) that featured heavy, dark pieces that suggest items once owned by the royal and the rich of the Middle Ages.

Collectors find dining rooms with high-back chairs, melon spacers, gadrooning and other Jacobean elements crafted from oak that — in some cases — was treated with lampblack to give it the dull, ebony color like the one seen on the piece in today’s question. Later examples, from the second to the fourth decades of the 20th century, are sometimes found embellished with knights, damsels in distress, crenelation, shields, castles, monks, arched elements and so forth.

Liquor and other cabinets, desks and fitted coffers with this sort of pseudo-medieval look turn up on occasion. This cupboard is correct for this time frame and is decorated with knight caryatids on twisted columns that flank panels decorated with sun devices above other panels bearing images of knights holding shields.

The middle compartment looks like it might be a fall front desk or might open to reveal a cabinet that would hold glasses and bottles. For insurance purposes, this very decorative piece should be valued in the $1,000-$1,500 range depending on the region of the country where it is located.

Ÿ Contact Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson at Treasures in Your Attic, P.O. Box 18350, Knoxville, TN 37928.