- Chest of Drawers
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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
Note: The history that Norton wrote on the bureau contains several factual errors. Please refer to the correct provenance.
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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