Auction details
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Renaissance Revival Bed and Dresser
American, ca 1860s, a Renaissance Revival bed and dresser in walnut and walnut veneers, both architecturally moulded with elaborately shaped crests and large turned finials, the rail hardware on the bed stamped MR, possibly for Mitchell Rammelsberg, Cincinnati, Ohio; bed ht. 108, outside wd. 74.5, inside wd. 60, dp. 84 in., dresser ht. 92, wd. 58, dp. 22 in. Belle Brezing, one of Lexington, Kentucky’s most infamous madams during the mid- to late-19th century, purportedly owned these two pieces. The grand scale and extensive ornamentation of the furniture suited Ms. Brezing’s lavish taste and was in keeping with the aesthetic of intentional complexity and denseness favored in the Victorian age. Following her death in 1940, an auction was held on August 22, 1940 to sell the contents of Ms. Brezing’s house at 59 Megowan Street. The bedstead and dresser here were purportedly sold then. Accompanying the lot is a copy of Madame Belle Brezing by Buddy Thompson, Lexington: Buggy Whip Press, 1983, dedicated to the "owner of the Belle Brezing bed". A similar bedroom suite consisting of a bedstead and dresser with original Mitchell Rammelsberg label was sold by Neal Auction Company, New Orleans, LA, on November 19, 2011, lot 434. Condition reportDresser missing crown. Water spot damage on sides of bed, purportedly from a fire extinguishing that occurred in Ms. Brezing's third house in 1890s. Age cracks and repairs. One marble cracked.
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