Johan Tapp

While much is known about the career of Johan Tapp (1888-1939), a Dutch-born designer and cabinetmaker whose eponymous Chicago-based firm produced expensive reproductions of Chippendale and Sheraton furniture, the enduring mystery is who in the firm designed the sensational 1940’s pieces that rarely appear on the market. These tapering chests of drawers, the fronts carved with rustic oak leaves from which dangle bunches of acorn pulls, were apparently commissioned for the bedroom of the Dixon residence, decorated by Alfred Messner. The accompanying period photograph of the Dixon living room illustrates in the foreground a drop-leaf table produced by Tapp, while many of the other pieces were designed by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings.