Antique Walnut Apprentice Piece Commode

A charming example of 19th century apprentice miniatures, complete with original wire drawer pulls. The interiors of the drawers are quite clean. The piece came to us with metal brac...

A beautifully made mahogany apprentices' practice chest of drawers with satinwood inlay. Handsome mouldings at top and and carved plinth at the bottom....

Charming piece, lovely color. Suitable for smaller pieces of jewelry. Well-made, chipwork and champhered elements.

A small antique brass and wood postal scale. It stands on an oak base with serpentine edge with attractive bun feet. There are 6 weights which measure 16 oz, 8 oz, 4 oz 2 oz, 1 oz, 1...

An antique English wrought iron police station sign in good original condition. Manufactured at the Briggs Foundry, Barrow, as seen in the bottom right corner. There are holes at eit...

A classic Louis Philippe commode in dramatically grained walnut veneer. Three wide drawers plus an extra hidden drawer in the top molding! The book matched walnut has very good col...

People like to use the term ‘apprentice pieces’ when referring to small pieces of miniature furniture,but more often than not this isn’t the case. But...

Early 19th century French Empire Apprentice Commode in walnut with lift top. Table top item.

19th century miniature beech and ash hoop back kitchen chair A delightful piece, this chair it may be tiny but it has the most wonderful look, a great patina and charm. The chair...

People like to use the term ‘apprentice pieces’ when referring to small pieces of miniature furniture,but more often than not this isn’t the case. But what is an apprentice piece and why are they often confused with miniatures? Here we aim to answer these questions! The majority of miniature furniture are in fact sample pieces used by travelling salesmen. Workshops would send out salesmen on lengthy country-wide tours, with a miniature of each piece on his sales cart. This meant the cabinet maker could use the smaller form to show off his skills, without the salesman having to carry a full size piece of furniture wherever he went. Using exactly the same skills and techniques as used on the full sized pieces, the miniatures offered a way of potential buyers being able to get a feel of the quality of goods the workshop produced, before committing to a purchase. Better than a flat ink drawing in a catalogue. A much smaller number of these miniatures are termed ‘apprentice pieces’. Apprentice pieces, although again a scaled down version of the workshops’ offerings, were made by an often inexperienced apprentice. They were given lesser quality materials to work with and the craftsmanship was often less refined. Antique miniature furniture...

Early 19th Century walnut commode, the inlaid top with cookie corners over turned and fluted legs flanking three inlaid drawers and standing on turned turnip feet, French or Italian ...

Rectangular top with diamond inlay over three drawers with similar inlay, slight cabriole legs.