Coat stand

Few late-19th century artists were as successful or as versatile as Christopher Dresser in designing objects made of vastly different material, including wood, glass, ceramics, textiles, silver, and iron. Here cast iron is manipulated with a painted surface that imitates the grain of wood, one of several finishes offered by Coalbrookdale in their catalogues. The overlapping motifs of thistles, banana leaves, and stylized snake or dragon heads speak to Dresser's scientific education as well as his desire to render flora and fauna in abstract, geometric forms. The sinuous curves of this coatstand give the object a sense of rhythm, suggestive of the then nascent Art Nouveau style.