A Painted Dwarf Bookcase

A painted dwarf bookcase in the Regency manner, the top decorated to simulate porphyry, the concave sides and opening imitating rosewood and articulated with gilded fluting, the whole raised on square tapering legs.

There has always been a tradition of painting furniture to simulate precious marbles and veneers. Porphyry is mined in Egypt and Scandinavia and is rarely found in large quantities (the most famous creation in this stone is the Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte at Les Invalides in Paris). Rosewood originated in Brazil and was a highly prized timber in part because of the expense of transporting it to Europe. For this reason, European furniture was often constructed using indigenous woods and painted in imitation of these rare materials. This in itself is a painstaking process and ironically could be as costly as to employ the use of genuine materials.