Charles Rohlfs

Charles Rohlfs and Anna Katharine Green, Buffalo, New York
Roland Rohlfs, son of Charles Rohlfs
Rosamond Rohlfs Zetterholm, granddaughter of Charles Rohlfs
Thence by descent to the present owner

Overall in very good condition. This corner cabinet is being consigned by descendants of Charles Rohlfs and by all accounts the top and bottom sections have originated together. The oak surfaces throughout appear to retain their original finish. The top cabinet is slightly lighter in color than the bottom case, as seen in the catalogue illustrations. The oak surfaces throughout with surface scratches, abrasions and edge wear with some associated edge losses consistent with age and use. The two interior shelves in the top china cabinet appear to have been later stabilized with four brass L-shaped brackets and small wood shims between the lower shelf and interior case. The shelves appear to have been originally supported by the stylized pegs ornamenting the exterior of the top case, all of which are intact. With a few minor stains and ring marks on the interior shelves. The top of the china cabinet with a seam separation. The proper left cabinet door with a large edge abrasion from continued contact with the latch. The latch is slightly loose. There is a small hole on the proper left door adjacent to the latch which appears to have been originally fitted with a small rectangular plate now missing. With symmetrically drilled holes to the bottom frames of the cabinet doors, and a few tiny holes to the bottom corners on the recessed door panels. The bottom drawers fronts with small areas of finish loss around the central pulls, and with approximately 10 drilled holes scattered on the drawer fronts and proper left corner panel of the case. The interior drawer bottoms retain their original vibrant green stain (the bottom drawer is presently covered with a piece of fixed shelf paper). This corner cabinet displays beautifully in person and has a surprisingly small and charming scale. A superb example of Rohlf’s most accomplished fretted decoration. Please note that there is a partial strike of Rohlf’s branded “sign of the saw” cipher on the proper right interior panel of the china cabinet.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Complex Geometry, Patterned Ornament and Whimsy

The present Corner China Cabinet is among the finest and most complex case pieces created by Charles Rohlfs in his mere decade of furniture design.  Case furniture by Rohlfs is rare, accounting for only a small portion of his very limited overall output.  Still, many of his creations in this mode are among his finest works, placing his Corner China Cabinet in the company of such masterpieces as his Rotating Desk (ca. 1899; Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs [AFCR], p. 78), Library Table (ca. 1899; p. 130), Desk with Overhead Gallery (ca. 1899; p. 133), Chiffonier (1901; p. 154), Standing Desk (1902/1904; p. 168) and Desk with Suspended Gallery (1904; p. 135).  Featuring subtle design and elegant proportion, the Corner China Cabinet's structures demonstrate Rohlfs' consummate abilities as a designer and craftsman.

Created for the interior of the Rohlfs family home during a period of remarkable productivity and innovation around 1898 or 1899, this cabinet was repeatedly illustrated in articles on Rohlfs.  Its ornamental patterns and design detailing are not known on any other extant Rohlfs objects.  As I have asserted, the Corner China Cabinet is "among the most structurally and decoratively ambitious pieces constructed by Rohlfs," and "forgoes the easy opulence of ornate carving, instead exploring complex geometry, patterned ornament and whimsy" (AFCR, p. 87).  The vegetal and floral latticework fretting of the doors features gridded patterns as well as beautifully conventionalized motifs of leaves and blossoms, which can also be read abstractly as a helix.  The sophistication and harmony of the doors are whimsically set off with kidney-shaped screw plugs that line the sides of the case.  The architecture of the cabinet is as innovative as its decoration, featuring gently angled side panels, which foil the dramatic vectors of the back panels and sophisticated blind joinery for the doors.

The upper and lower cabinets were not originally installed as an integrated unit.  Rohlfs varied their juxtaposition over many years, utilizing the two parts as a kind of laboratory experiment, testing the boundaries of his own creativity and ability to create a harmonized union between the parts of what would become a whole.  As illustrated in the first article on Rohlfs, in House Beautiful in January 1900, the upper cabinet was suspended upon a shelf with decorative moldings.  Between 1900 and 1904, Rohlfs developed various versions of decorative shelves on which he installed the upper cabinet.  The arrangement showing the upper cabinet set upon a shelf above the lower cabinet was next documented in a picture of the dining room at Rohlfs home on Norwood Avenue in Buffalo, featured in an article on Rohlfs' wife, mystery novelist Anna Katharine Green in 1904.  When he renovated this dining room in 1908, Rohlfs again modified the installation, building the upper cabinet directly into the ensemble of the wood framing and beaver-board panels of the room, but as always, with the lower cabinet sitting immediately below (AFCR, p. 205).  Though he experimented with their relation between the upper and lower cabinet, Rohlfs was always satisfied with the design of each component, never altering the structure or decoration of either in any way.

In 1912, when Charles Rohlfs and Anna Katharine Green finally designed for themselves a home that captured their artistic life together, Rohlfs modified the cabinet installation one last time, uniting the two units to create the final version offered here.  As shown in various period pictures, the cabinet was given a place of pride in the dining room.  Rohlfs and his wife lived out their days enjoying it through to the mid-1930s, when both furniture designer and author passed away.  Its elegance and sophistication stand as a testimony to Rohlfs' achievements and to his magical decade of artistic furniture.

—Joseph Cunningham, Curatorial Director of American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation, is author of The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs and curator of the exhibition currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, through 23 January 2011.