The bombé contour was never as prevalent as the block-front or serpentine because it was more complex and costly to manufacture. Nonetheless, it was translated into a variety of forms besides the chest of drawers—from diminutive dressing glasses to commanding case pieces. While bombé furniture is most closely identified with the Boston area, a small number of examples, including the Bayou Bend chest, are ascribed to Salem and Essex County. Its design, proportions, ornament, and construction relate to three case pieces signed by Salem cabinetmaker Henry Rust. In addition, an inscription on a desk and bookcase, possibly in Rust’s handwriting, implies a familiarity with Nathaniel Gould, the most successful of all eighteenth-century Salem cabinetmakers. The Gould and Rust shops may have employed similar designs and construction techniques, complicating a more specific attribution. 

Technical notes: Mahogany; eastern white pine. The rear feet are fully carved. The case sides, vertical at the base molding, conclude in a dovetail for the sliding top. The drawer sides conform to the shape of the case. The drawer dividers are dovetailed into the sides and have characteristic beading. The brasses are replacements. 

Related examples: Downs 1952, no. 166; Aronson 1965, p. 117, no. 365; Chamberlain 1977, p. 1170. Also related are a bombé chest-on-chest at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri (acc. no. 34–123) and two desks illustrated in Antiques 46 (November 1944), p. 255, and Sack 1989, p. 1183.

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.