44 x 5 ft. 5 x 30 1/2 in.
Note from the Denver Art Museum: The eighteenth-century sacristy chest was used to store fine textiles used in the celebration of the mass - including precious vestments that were often embroidered in gold and silver. Largely as a result of its abundant supply of local woods - among them, the famed Cuban mahogany and Spanish cedar - Havana became one of the colonial Spanish America's most notable woodworking centers. Although ship construction and repair represented the most significant share of the trade, the port city was also renowned for its fine furniture production. Whereas the famous cedar with iron fittings cajas habaneras, or Havana chests, had been exported in large numbers to other Spanish American colonies, the Canary Islands, and the Iberian Peninsula from the sixteenth century onward, fine mahogany furniture also became an important trade commodity during the eighteenth century.
The massive mahogany chest of drawers with serpentine front at the sacristy of the Havana Cathedral may have set the model for one of the most innovative designs in eighteenth-century Cuban furniture making: the sacristy chest. Dating to the second half of the eighteenth century, these splendid and imposing pieces—characterized by their graceful, undulating, multilinear curve contour—were typically made of solid mahogany boards with interiors in Spanish cedar, also known as cedrela. Most examples have turned wood pulls or brass hardware, but some exceptional pieces have solid silver hardware. Traded along the Caribbean’s thriving commercial routes, Cuban-made sacristy chests of drawers found their way to numerous towns and cities across Spanish America. Examples have been recorded in collections in Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, and Venezuela. (Jorge Rivas Pérez, Frederick and Jan Mayer Curator of Latin American Art, 2019).
Similar examples of Cuban sacristy commodes are in the Denver Art Museum (accession number 2019.64), Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Museo de la Ciudad, Havana, the Museo de la Obra Pia, Havana and the Casa de Diego Velázquez, Santiago de Cuba.
Literature: For further illustrations and a discussion of Cuban sacristy commodes, see: Michael Connors, Cuban Elegance, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 2004, pp. 69, 76-7, 82-88; and Michael Connors, The Eighteenth-Century Cuban Sacristy Chest of Drawers, The Magazine Antiques, February 2004, pp. 66.
Condition
The top with a slight warp, with scattered nicks, gouges, old repairs, and age splits. The sides and corners with age splits, some with filler, and the left side with old repairs to the corners. Scattered nicks and wear to the apron and feet. The front right foot with two old repairs. Hardware and elements on the front and back legs replaced. Drawer bottoms with minor age splits. Drawers slide well. Lower section of the back boards replaced. Two bails replaced on the top drawer. Fitted with one key. Impressive scale, and structurally sound.
Notwithstanding this report or any discussion concerning condition of a lot, all lots are offered and sold "as is" in accordance with our conditions of sale.
