Brooklyn Museum

Kas

early 19th century

1 of 2

Object Label

Even after the Dutch city New Amsterdam became the British city New York in 1664, Dutch colonists tried to maintain their religious and linguistic identity. The kast (large storage cupboard) is a prime example of this adherence to Dutch cultural traditions. Even though the form had disappeared in the Netherlands in the eighteenth century, the kast continued to be made by descendants of Dutch colonists here. In another twist of history, when the kast died out in the United States in the later nineteenth century, it was revived in the Netherlands as an expression of nationalism.

Caption

Kas, early 19th century. Wood, 81 x 62 1/2 x 30 1/2 in. (205.7 x 158.8 x 77.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. W. C. Bunn, 21.438. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 21.438_PS4.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Kas

Date

early 19th century

Geography

Place made: New York, United States

Medium

Wood

Classification

Furniture

Dimensions

81 x 62 1/2 x 30 1/2 in. (205.7 x 158.8 x 77.5 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Mr. W. C. Bunn

Accession Number

21.438

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • You have a lot of rooms to look into on the fourth floor, I like it.

    In 1914, Luke Vincent Lockwood, a pioneering scholar and collector of American colonial furniture, joined the museum’s Board of Trustees. He initiated a concerted effort to match the drive of other major American institutions to assemble a collection of period rooms, which were amassed between 1915 and 1929.
    New Yorkers are also obsessed with looking into other people's apartments, so this is fun to do. I wonder, are the interiors idealized?
    That's an interesting observation! The rooms definitely idealize ideas of the home and the family and the lives of American people however, it must also be noted that many of these homes are of the upper-middle class, so they would have had nice belongings as well.
    It may also give New Yorkers something to aspire to and recreate for their own home, seeing America's living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms.
    I'm sure they inspired some folks! What's more American than an American looking home that you own?
    That Kas is impressive!
    It is! You may have noticed in the label that it has its origins in the Netherlands. Interestingly, Dutch art also idealizes interiors dating back to paintings of Biblical scenes placed in Dutch interiors beginning in the Renaissance.
    I want to go antiquing now for a peace like that! It's a bold statement.
    Good luck! Every home needs some bold statements.

  • What's up with the legs on this piece?

    The front feet take the decorative “onion” or “bun” form. The kast cabinet is very large and unlikely to be moved often, so the back legs are simpler.

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