Lot Essay
With its paneled sides and two large drawers enclosing two small drawers, this chest is associated with a small group made in the Boston area 1690-1710. Each have applied geometric molding, and were originally paint decorated, intended to imitate a contrasting appearance fashionable among London cabinetmakers who achieved this using different woods. This group may be associated with an outgrowth of the Mason-Messinger shop, and while variations in design existed among related forms, this group remained consistent and is therefore important (Robert F. Trent,New England Begins: The Seventeenth Century,(Boston, 1982) Vol. p. 265).
In an attempt to create the look of opulence with the use of applied moldings, and contrasting colors, these joiners were emulating the William and Mary Style. However, the concession to the new style was only in decoration; construction remained more closely tied to its earlier roots. The newer, lighter styles made by newly arrived cabinetmakers from London employed dovetailed construction, while these chests were still joined.
Several chests from this group retain their original decoration including one in the Brooklyn Museum, 49.190.02 listed as "Masterpiece" in Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture (New York, 1993) p. 93, and one in the Chipstone Collection, see Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, American Furniture at Chipstone, (Madison, Wisconsin, 1984) pp.6-7, no.3. This example, along with the example illustrated and discussed in Gerald W.R. Ward, American Case Furniture in the Male Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University (New Haven, 1988)pp. 134-135, fig. 56, have lost their original paint decoration and feet.
In an attempt to create the look of opulence with the use of applied moldings, and contrasting colors, these joiners were emulating the William and Mary Style. However, the concession to the new style was only in decoration; construction remained more closely tied to its earlier roots. The newer, lighter styles made by newly arrived cabinetmakers from London employed dovetailed construction, while these chests were still joined.
Several chests from this group retain their original decoration including one in the Brooklyn Museum, 49.190.02 listed as "Masterpiece" in Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture (New York, 1993) p. 93, and one in the Chipstone Collection, see Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, American Furniture at Chipstone, (Madison, Wisconsin, 1984) pp.6-7, no.3. This example, along with the example illustrated and discussed in Gerald W.R. Ward, American Case Furniture in the Male Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University (New Haven, 1988)pp. 134-135, fig. 56, have lost their original paint decoration and feet.