High Chest of Drawers

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • High Chest of Drawers
Datec. 1750–1800
Made inRhode Island, United States
MediumMahogany; chestnut, southern yellow pine, eastern white pine, and yellow-poplar
Dimensions87 × 41 × 22 5/8 in. (221 × 104.1 × 57.5 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.89
Non exposé

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Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Rhode Island’s predilection for bold outlines and minimal surface treatment is epitomized by this high chest of drawers. The earliest examples were fashioned with slipper or pad feet and flat tops, while later ones introduce options such as pad or ball-and-claw feet, carving on the legs, quarter columns on the pedimented upper case, and a formulaic drawer arrangement. In many respects these chests are most closely related to Early Baroque examples, their legs being separate components, the case dovetailed together, the midmolding attached to the upper case, the drawer configuration, and the retention of medial braces.

Related examples: Signed high chests include one by John Townsend (Ward 1988, pp. 265–68, no. 140) and another by Benjamin Baker (d. 1822) (Moses 1984, p. 194). Examples in public collections include Hipkiss 1941, pp. 56–57, no. 32; Downs 1952, no. 191; Rodriguez Roque 1984, pp. 26–28, no. 12; Moses 1984, pp. 180–81, 184; Heckscher 1985, pp. 247–48, no. 161; Antiques 131 (May 1987), p. 980; Ward 1988, pp. 268–72, nos. 141, 142; Conger 1991, pp. 106–7, no. 25.

Book excerpt: Warren, David B., 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.


ProvenanceBartol family, Boston; [David Stockwell (1907–1996), Wilmington, Delaware]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1953; given to MFAH.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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High Chest of Drawers
c. 1760–1800
Mahogany; mahogany, Atlantic white cedar, cedar, southern yellow pine, and yellow-poplar
B.69.75
High Chest of Drawers
c. 1750–1782
Cherry; eastern white pine and southern yellow pine
B.28.1
Tall Clock
Edward Spalding
c. 1765–1785
Mahogany; chestnut, white oak, black cherry, eastern white pine, southern yellow pine, and cherry
B.59.83
Sofa
c. 1750–1801
Mahogany; red oak, yellow-poplar, southern yellow pine, white oak, and eastern white pine
B.59.73
scan from file photograph
c. 1750–1800
Mahogany; southern yellow pine, eastern white pine, and yellow-poplar; marble
B.69.67
Chest-on-Chest
c. 1760–1800
Mahogany; mahogany, Atlantic white cedar, yellow-poplar, white oak, and southern yellow pine
B.69.74
Bureau Table
Thomas Spencer
c. 1780–1785
Mahogany; mahogany, eastern white pine, chestnut, soft maple, and yellow poplar
B.92.6
Desk and Bookcase
Edmund Townsend
c. 1765–1785
Mahogany; eastern white pine; chestnut; yellow poplar, and cedar
B.99.24
Dressing Table
Christopher Townsend
c. 1750–1755
Mahogany; yellow-poplar, eastern white pine, and chestnut
B.59.96
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
B.69.42
scan from file photograph
c. 1760–1800
Black walnut; red gum, Atlantic white cedar, yellow-poplar, southern yellow pine, and eastern white pine
B.69.527
scan from file photograph
c. 1730–1800
Black walnut; yellow-poplar, red oak, Atlantic white cedar, chestnut, eastern white pine, and black walnut
B.61.82