432. JÖNS EFVERBERG (master in Drottningholm 1768, palace carpenter and cabinetmaker 1770, official master 1775, active until his death 1777), Chest of drawers à la chinoise, high-class Stockholm work in rococo, signed three times IEB.

Mahogany veneered with pine blinds, counter-faced drawer fronts, edges with molded brass moldings, alder wood, chests brass keyed, drawer fronts with openwork brass plates à la chinoise, front with lambrequin, curved legs, carrara marble top, marked in pencil "POA ReRn 23- Juli", height 85, 96 x 56 cm PROVENANCE: Formerly in the collections at Skottorp Castle, Skummeslöv parish, Halland County The fascination for the Orient and China took clear expression during the 18th century. Through trade with East Asia, large quantities of durable and beautifully decorated porcelain were imported to Sweden. On Drottningholm, Adolf Fredrik had the first Chinese pavilion erected in 1753, as a surprise for Lovisa Ulrika on her birthday. The pavilion was replaced in the 1760s by Kina Castle, based on Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz's drawings, which with its strong colors and imaginative design language became like a mirage in the strict baroque park. Already in the 17th century, Queen Dowager Hedvig Eleonora had started collecting Chinese porcelain from the Wanli and Kangxi eras.

During the second half of the 18th century, several English pattern books with furniture drawings were published, both Thomas Chippendale and Thomas Sheraton published pictures of Chinese interiors and furniture. Also the Scottish-born William Chambers, born in Gothenburg, as a teacher and court architect of King George III of England came to have a great influence on the spread of the Chinese style during the Rococo period. Chamber's panel work "Designs of Chinese Buildings, furniture, dresses, machines and utensils", published in 1757, had a major impact on contemporary architecture and design.

The Skåne-born Jöns Efverberg returned from his journey as a foreign journeyman, which began in the 1750s, and in 1768 became town master of the Drottningholm ore, which was declared a city during the time of Gustav III. The following year, in 1769, China Castle was completed in Drottningholm's castle park, which was furnished with furniture of domestic and English manufacture. According to the Kommerskollegium's decision in 1770, Efverberg was appointed castle carpenter and cabinet maker under the Hall Court, in the mantalslängde from the same year he is mentioned as a carpenter at the Queen's Palace (Drottningholm). Only in 1775 did he become the master of office in Stockholm, with the second masterpiece executed in the new Gustavian style, after Georg Haupt's desk in 1770. The most common master piece since the beginning of the 18th century was otherwise to make a large cabinet, but four masters made chests of drawers instead; Johan Neijber 1768 (rococo bureau), Jöns Efverberg 1775, Anders Lundelius 1778 and Anders Ollén 1786.

Jöns Efverberg's Chest of drawers à la chinoise is most likely unique in its kind and should without a doubt be made to order, there are several possible clients within the shipbuilding industry as well as the nobility in general. On the Tottieska malmgården, for example, there is a well-carved rococo mahogany chest of drawers (inventory no. SKANM.0327852), which originally belonged to the wholesaler Charles Tottie (1703-1776). From a purely carpentry point of view, the constructional details are significant for Rococo veneer furniture, with external drawer bottoms and backs, which were glued or doweled as in the current case. Efverberg has excelled in his craftsmanship by joining the chest of drawers with lower and upper pieces. In the upper part, the sinks are half-covered, which in turn are hidden by moldings on which the marble slab rests. Nevertheless, the lower piece is joined with refined crossed zincs, which has made it possible for the bottom of the drawer to rest directly on the bottom piece instead of inserted sliding strips.

The drawer fronts are veneered with mahogany, which during Gustavian times became a way to avoid the fronts from collapsing, in the case of Efverberg's Chest of drawers , it is rather an aesthetic expression as further proof of the high-class carpentry. The drawer edges are covered with cast brass moldings of high quality, later in the 18th century these moldings were often made of double-folded brass sheet with a wooden core.