Chest of Drawers

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Chest of Drawers
Datec. 1775–1795
Possible placeChatham Township, Connecticut, United States
MediumBlack cherry; eastern white pine
Dimensions38 1/2 × 37 3/8 × 19 in. (97.8 × 94.9 × 48.3 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.26
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Drawing Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Few objects in the Bayou Bend Collection present a clearer perspective on the transmission of design and construction from one regional center to the next than does this block-front chest. It belongs to a group of case pieces identified from Middlesex County, Connecticut. The design of this chest of drawers is clearly influenced by Newport furniture yet, with its juxtaposition of ball-and-claw feet and bracket feet, distinctive carved shells, and use of native black cherry, it exudes its own individuality. 

Technical notes: Black cherry; eastern white pine. The rear feet are dovetailed. The convex shells are applied. Braces running front to back are attached to the sides above the top drawer. The top rests on the molding. The hardware appears to be original. Inside the top drawer is penciled: “This three shell block- front bureau belonged to the old Post family of Haddam Conn and was inherited by Mr. Frank Wade of #17 Hancock St., Westfield, Mass. who is a member of the Post Family of Haddam. I purchased it from Mrs. Wade in June 1919. Malcolm A. Norton.”

Related examples: Chests from this group include Downs 1952, no. 172; Kirk 1967, p. 38, no. 63; Myers and Mayhew 1974, p. 37; and possibly Comstock 1962, no. 300.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.


ProvenanceProbably Deborah Champion Gilbert (1753–1845) and Samuel Gilbert (1734–1818), Hebron, Connecticut; by descent to their daughter, Sarah Gilbert Post (Mrs. Abner Post, 1789–1871), Middle Haddam, Connecticut, and Westfield, Massachusetts; by descent to her grandson, Edward Thomas Wade (1852–1925) and his wife Amelia Anna Wade (1853–1924); purchased by [Malcolm Norton (1857–1937), Hartford, Connecticut], 1919; Herbert Lawton, Boston; consigned to [American Art Association, New York, American Furniture and Silver…from the Collection of Herbert Lawton, Boston, April 3, 1937, lot 385]; purchased by [Ginsburg & Levy, New York, 1937]; purchased by Richard Loeb; [Charlotte and Edgar Sittig, Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania]; [Joe Kindig, Jr. (1898–1971), York, Pennsylvania]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, March 28, 1947; given to MFAH, 1969.
Exhibition History"The American Carftsman and the European Tradition, 1620–1820," FIRST VENUE: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN, September 23–December 31, 1989 SECOND VENUE: The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, April 14–June 10, 1990 (LN: 89.22)
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inside top drawer: This three shell blockfront bureau belonged to the old Post family of Haddam Conn and was inherited by Mr. Frank Wade of #17 Hancock St., Westfield, Mass. who is a member of the Post Family of Haddam. I purchased it from Mrs. Wade in June 1919. Malcolm A. Norton [pencil]

Note: The history that Norton wrote on the bureau contains several factual errors. Please refer to the correct provenance.
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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c. 1750–1782
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scan from file photograph
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Paint, gesso, gold leaf, eastern white pine, soft maple, brass; eastern white pine
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c. 1750–1800
Mahogany; chestnut, southern yellow pine, eastern white pine, and yellow-poplar
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Desk
c. 1700–1730
Black walnut, undetermined burl veneer, and eastern white pine; eastern white pine, black walnut, yellow-poplar, cherry, Cuban oyster wood (Gymnanthes lucida), and chestnut
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c. 1780–1800
Mahogany; eastern white pine
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c. 1745–1800
Mahogany; eastern white pine
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c. 1760–1800
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c. 1760–1800
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Edward Spalding
c. 1765–1785
Mahogany; chestnut, white oak, black cherry, eastern white pine, southern yellow pine, and cherry
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c. 1820–1830
Grained, painted, and gilded mahogany, and birch; mahogany veneer on eastern white pine with black walnut banding, ash, eastern white pine, cherry, and original brass casters
B.68.31