Welsh Dresser book set for launch on Friday
A bilingual book Wonder Wales: The Welsh Dresser / Cip ar Gymru: Y Ddresel Gymreig will be launched at Tim Bowen Antiques, Ferryside, Carmarthenshire on Friday at 2.30pm.
The book has been written by Chris S. Stephens and Eleri Davies.
The book has been written by Chris S. Stephens and Eleri Davies.
It provides an informative, concise and entertaining portrait of a piece of Welsh furniture that has been admired widely and collected avidly.
The new book includes full-colour archive photographs of a variety of Welsh dressers, and is the latest addition to the popular series Cip ar Gymru / Wonder Wales published by Gomer Press.
The striking form and character of Welsh dressers are unmistakable. Over the centuries the dresser has lent status to kitchens, living rooms and front parlours.
“The functional nature of the dresser, and its durability, ensured that it became almost a vital piece of furniture in all 19th century lower-class homes, from the country farmhouse to the artisan’s cottage or the purpose-built miner’s house,” says Chris Stephens.
Often dressers were passed from one generation to the next and could be used as a symbol of achievement or respectability, and as a showcase for the family’s prized tableware.
Chris Stephens cites several rhymes and folk poems where dressers and other house contents are included in the arrangements for a new marital home as part of the dowry. This reinforces commonly-observed traditions such as dressers being passed down through the female line of families, or bridegrooms providing the dresser and brides providing the contents, such as a tea service, complete with teapot, sugar-bowl and cream jug.
To this day Welsh dressers are still to be found in the kitchens of many modern homes and there is an enthusiastic market for antique dressers, as homeowners realise the significance of beautifully handmade furniture from the past.
In March 2000, a north Wales dresser was sold in the Victoria Auction Rooms in Mold for £45,000. The magnificent 9 foot wide oak dresser, made in 1700, had been in the same family since its creation, moving with succeeding generations from Trawsfynydd through the Vale of Clwyd to Rhewl, near Ruthin.
Artists and illustrators of the 21st century often include images of the iconic Welsh dresser in their compositions. They ensure that its presence continues to be celebrated, not only in its native land, but across the world.
“Although we know that the dresser is not an item of furniture unique to Wales, we realise that it carries within its making and its makers that essential soul of heritage and culture which epitomises the diversity of its homeland and people,” says Chris Stephens.
The new booklet, Wonder Wales: The Welsh Dresser priced at £3.99, is now available from all good bookshops, online retailers or directly from Gomer Press: www.gomer.co.uk 01559 363092.
The new book includes full-colour archive photographs of a variety of Welsh dressers, and is the latest addition to the popular series Cip ar Gymru / Wonder Wales published by Gomer Press.
The striking form and character of Welsh dressers are unmistakable. Over the centuries the dresser has lent status to kitchens, living rooms and front parlours.
“The functional nature of the dresser, and its durability, ensured that it became almost a vital piece of furniture in all 19th century lower-class homes, from the country farmhouse to the artisan’s cottage or the purpose-built miner’s house,” says Chris Stephens.
Often dressers were passed from one generation to the next and could be used as a symbol of achievement or respectability, and as a showcase for the family’s prized tableware.
Chris Stephens cites several rhymes and folk poems where dressers and other house contents are included in the arrangements for a new marital home as part of the dowry. This reinforces commonly-observed traditions such as dressers being passed down through the female line of families, or bridegrooms providing the dresser and brides providing the contents, such as a tea service, complete with teapot, sugar-bowl and cream jug.
To this day Welsh dressers are still to be found in the kitchens of many modern homes and there is an enthusiastic market for antique dressers, as homeowners realise the significance of beautifully handmade furniture from the past.
In March 2000, a north Wales dresser was sold in the Victoria Auction Rooms in Mold for £45,000. The magnificent 9 foot wide oak dresser, made in 1700, had been in the same family since its creation, moving with succeeding generations from Trawsfynydd through the Vale of Clwyd to Rhewl, near Ruthin.
Artists and illustrators of the 21st century often include images of the iconic Welsh dresser in their compositions. They ensure that its presence continues to be celebrated, not only in its native land, but across the world.
“Although we know that the dresser is not an item of furniture unique to Wales, we realise that it carries within its making and its makers that essential soul of heritage and culture which epitomises the diversity of its homeland and people,” says Chris Stephens.
The new booklet, Wonder Wales: The Welsh Dresser priced at £3.99, is now available from all good bookshops, online retailers or directly from Gomer Press: www.gomer.co.uk 01559 363092.
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