Cabinet

Trained in Germany as a cabinetmaker, Daniel Pabst arrived in Philadelphia in 1849. There, he earned a reputation for carved Renaissance Revival furniture, characterized by classical motifs such as columns, capitals, and carved animal heads.

In the mid-1870s his style changed under the influence of English reform designers such as Christopher Dresser, who lectured in Philadelphia during the Centennial Exhibition in 1876. Pabst’s new work in the reform-minded, rectilinear Modern Gothic style incorporated abstracted interpretations of nature, as in the floral medallion on the lower part of this cabinet. The crisp silhouette of the piece reflects the new taste for precision that accompanied the greater use of the machine in the furniture industry.