Tobey Furniture Company Dining Suite
American, quartersawn oak, circa 1890s
This monumental Gothic Revival dining room suite exemplifies the elaborate craftsmanship and architectural character of American furniture produced during the late Victorian period.
The ensemble includes an extension dining table, dining chairs, sideboard, hooded and mirrored buffet, china cabinet, serving stand, and tall case clock. Its richly carved ornament incorporates Gothic arches, clustered columns, pinnacles, pierced cresting, and carved monks and nuns in distinctive playful sculpted faces. These details create a unified decorative composition reminiscent of medieval ecclesiastical woodwork.
Tobey Furniture Company
Founded by Charles Tobey, soon joined by his brother Frank, the firm opened as a retail furniture dealer in 1856 and began manufacturing in 1870 when it bought a local cabinet shop. By 1890, according to research done by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was considered Chicago’s most important decorating company.
Much of Tobey’s finest work came from its own workshop. In 1888 Frank Tobey brought in the Norwegian cabinetmaker Wilhelm F. Christiansen to run a subsidiary factory, where dozens of cabinet makers, finishers, and polishers produced the expensive high-quality pieces that put Tobey among the top American makers. Christiansen soon became a partner in a subsidiary firm, the Tobey & Christiansen Cabinet Company.