This chest, made with the simplest plank construction, is attributed to Robert Crossman, a Taunton drum maker who is also thought to have produced and deco­rated a distinctive body of furniture. The group ranges from miniature one-drawer chests, as represented by the Bayou Bend example, to full-size chests of drawers. They are all ornamented with variations on the tree of life, probably inspired by printed or embroidered textiles. This chest displays decoration typical of Cross­man’s earlier works, which is segmented and confined to the drawer front and chest panel. His later pieces have decora­tion that covers the overall facade.

Technical notes: Painted eastern white pine; chestnut (drawer bottom). Pull is re­placed. The drawer construction is dovetailed, the bottom board nailed to back and let into the sides and front. Backboards of chest are nailed.

Related examples: Williamsburg (Green­law 1974, no. 72) and Lockwood 1957, fig. 39, have miniature one-drawer chests similarly decorated with trees on the drawer; Art Insti­tute of Chicago (Comstock 1962, no. 180) and Fraser 1933, fig. 3, have miniature one-drawer chests; Winterthur has a miniature two-drawer chest in the late style, dated 1742 (Fales 1972, fig. 46); Sack 1969–92, vol. 10, p. 2659, no. P6358, a three-drawer chest dated 1732 on the front; Yale (Fraser 1933, fig. 4) and MMA (acc. no. 45.78.5) each has a three-drawer chest.

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.