This large open dresser, often termed a Schusselschranck, or dish cupboard, in Pennsylvania German households, was a traditional furniture form frequently presented to a young woman or newly married young couple as an essential component of their home. The upper cupboard contains sturdy shelves mortised into the shaped, scroll-cut side supports and is crowned with a flat, architectural, molded pediment, while the lower portion supplies additional storage with a waist-level bank of drawers and additional shelves concealed behind twin paneled doors. The earliest versions of the form tended to be of single-case construction and incorporated, as seen on this example, pronounced, mid-case moldings, a repeating S-shaped sawn frieze under the flat pediment, molded vertical inset panels flanking and separating the lower doors, and a shaped, trestle-type foot. The form held its central place and utility in the households of many local families and continued to be popular throughout the eighteenth and into the nineteenth century. Within certain communities, its construction and design changed little over time. Between 1749 and 1839, thirteen daughters from successive generations of the Clemens family of Lower Salford Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, were presented with dressers upon marriage.

The cost of these open cupboards varied, depending upon the woods used and the decorative details included in their design. Walnut and cherry examples were the most expensive, and elaborate moldings, carving, and decorative iron or brass hardware could further increase the charges. Mixed hardwood and softwood versions, painted to preserve, unify, and brighten the surfaces, were less expensive and equally popular. A number of similar dish cupboards constructed in walnut, and others, like this one, with a painted surface, were produced and used in the Lancaster County area. Traditional Germanic woodworking techniques can be seen in the construction and design of this example, such as the wedged dovetailing of its drawers, the double-pinned mortises securing the framed, raised panels of its lower doors, and the pinned construction of its structural case.

Jack L. Lindsey, "Open Cupboard or Dresser," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 460.