American Pine Step-Back Cupboard — Original Two-Color Paint, Solid Sides

A fine and characterful American country step-back cupboard in pine, first half of the 19th century, retaining its original two-color painted surface — a salmon-red ground with yellow-green trim — waxed to a soft patina that speaks directly to its age and completely unaltered history. From a distinguished New Mexico private collection of fine American antiques. Pieces of this type, carrying original paint in two distinct and contrasting tones with no intervening stripping, repainting, or restoration of any kind, are among the most desirable objects in the American painted furniture market, and grow increasingly scarce as the pool of genuinely untouched examples continues to contract.

Construction throughout reflects the hand-craft traditions of the early republic. The sides and bottom are each cut from a single wide board — old-growth pine of a quality unavailable after the mid-19th century — joined with cut nails and assembled with the economy and confidence of a country craftsman building for permanence. The open upper hutch presents three fixed shelves at varying heights, divided by a central vertical board and backed by a three-piece panel back. The lower enclosed cabinet offers a single raised-panel door concealing one interior shelf, with original iron hardware remaining on the door. Bracket feet with shaped aprons complete the base.

The waxed surface throughout deepens the contrast between the two paint tones and lends the piece a quiet, authoritative presence that only comes with two centuries of undisturbed life. What the photographs reveal — the checking in the backboards, the layers of paint at the edges, the darkened interior shelves worn smooth by generations of use — is not damage to be overcome but evidence to be valued. This is the piece the market is looking for: as-found, from a private collection, with nothing taken away and nothing added. Offered directly from the New Mexico estate.

CONDITION

Good, consistent with approximately 175–200 years of honest use. Structure is sound; the piece stands well, but should be placed against a wall for stability.

DIMENSIONS

• Overall: 75½" H × 40" W × 18½" D
• Upper section fixed shelf heights (interior): 12" / 8¾" / 7¾"
• Lower cabinet fixed shelf height (interior): 16"
• Side panel boards (each one piece): 72" H × 1" D, measuring 9¾" W at the top and 16" W at the bottom.

Bob Ross (6'2") Figure Shown in Photo for Scale