George Nakashima
Special Bahut, 1979

Material: American Black Walnut, English Oak Burl, Indian Mirror Glass
Signed: “38 x 18 x 78 Bahut | 3/13/79 Cole | Nakashima”

An exceptional “Special Bahut” by George Nakashima from 1979. The work is highly unique featuring a double, stacked configuration with two sets of doors as opposed to the typical Bahut design which includes a single set of doors and a shorter vertical height.

The Special Bahut’s case is made from American Black Walnut and includes two sets of highly-figured bookmatched doors. Additionally, the work features two pull handles crafted from particularly expressive English Oak Burl. The case sits upon an architectonic cross base and also features Nakashima’s signature exposed, handworked dovetail joinery along the juncture of the top and sides of the cabinet. Inside the Special Bahut, in both cabinet sections are adjustable, open shelves.

Inside of the upper right section of the cabinet is an attached signature plaque which reads: “38 x 18 x 78 Bahut | 3/13/79 Cole | Nakashima”.

Additionally, in the void of the lower, left door, Nakashima includes a small piece of Indian mirror glass, incorporating a unique design motif referencing his time in India:

“In Gujarat, the province of which Ahmedabad is the capital, one of the characteristic craft motifs is the use of tiny free-form round mirrors as a decorative feature. These mirrors can be found imbedded in carved architectural woodwork and plastered walls, and also embroidered onto clothing. These mirrors intrigued my father so much that he brought a box of them home to incorporate into his own furniture. The result was that for a period in the late 1960s, he filled small holes in English oak burl and knot-holes or bark pockets in walnut, not with wood or other filler, but with tiny Indian mirrors, much to the consternation of his American craftsmen.” “Although the men in the shop did not understand the tradition behind the imbedded mirror detail, some of our clients enjoyed this touch of the exotic, as it reflected my father’s appreciation for this North Indian craft tradition” (‘Nature, Form, and Spirit’, Mira Nakashima, 2003, p. 191).

The design’s title, Bahut, is a French term referring to a large case piece typically used in a dining room. Ostergard notes that this nomenclature “was chosen for this piece as a gesture commemorating Nakashima’s early years in France. In 1928 he had studied at Fontainebleau and, in the early 1930s, had lived in Paris. The use of a foreign appellation reflects the broadening of Nakashima’s overall design vocabulary in the 1960s. He no longer used names of generic simplicity, such as New Chair and Armchair, but began to include words evocative of other cultures” (‘George Nakashima Full Circle’, Derek E. Ostergard, 1989, p.170).