Mid 1950’S Dark Walnut Large Dressing Chest By Morris Of Glasgow

Mid 1950’s dark walnut large dressing chest by Morris of Glasgow

This fantastic dressing table /desk was probably made to order as it wouldn’t have been a standard production piece. We think it could have been a Nigel Walters design for Heals as he specialised in designing dressing tables with interesting mirrors like the ones used here. Heals in the 1950’s sold a number of standard ranges designed by Walters and a number of good designers as well as some really expensive designs which were made to order and would sometimes be one off pieces. These premium designs were 4 or 5 times the cost of their standard ranges according the only mid 1950’s Heals catalogue we have in our collection so very few people would have been able to afford them at the time. The curved shape, the extra large size and the way the back is also veneered would have made this a very expensive piece to make especially in small numbers. We couldn’t find any other dressing table of this era of this size when we looked online.

The use of American black or dark walnut was popular for a few years in the early to mid 1950’s when most people could only afford very basic mass produced pieces in oak or a highly polished mid colour walnut. The use of 2 adjustable circular mirrors was unusual at the time, but very practical. It could be used as a shallow desk without the mirrors and it should be possible to fill in the mirror support holes, but we think it would be a shame to do this on what is possibly a unique piece.

Condition
Fully cleaned and re-polished with an oiled finish. There are no obvious marks or scratches. As with all vintage pieces of this age you do have to expect to see some minor signs of wear if you look very closely.

Notes
We’ve recently found this lovely piece in a trade paper from 1956 on one of our research visits to the British Library. It was given the name ” La Ronde ” and described as being in Queensland walnut which will have been no different to Australian walnut, but probably sounded more interesting. Presumably designed by Neil Morris when he was at his peak as a designer for the family firm. Morris of Glasgow at this time made pieces at all levels from exclusive designer pieces like this for a very small band of wealthy buyers to standard ranges like the Cumbrae for the mass market.

In the 1950’s Morris of Glasgow fitted out ocean liners as well as The Royal Yacht Britannia. At it’s peak the company employed over 1000 people so were able to cater for a wide customer base. Like Heals of London their special high end pieces made in small numbers would be exceedingly expensive whereas the mass produced ranges like Cumbrae would have to be very competitively priced.