A PAINT-DECORATED PINE BLANKET CHEST

PROBABLY BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, DATED 1791

Details

A PAINT-DECORATED PINE BLANKET CHEST
Probably Berks County, Pennsylvania, dated 1791
The rectangular lid pegged on three sides with a molded frame opening to an interior fitted with a molded till above a conforming case with two checkered astragal-painted panels enclosing a checkered pot issuing stylized tulips and leaves in red, black, green and white centering astragal painted panel "Elisabetha/Blesin 1791" flanked by similarly embellished case sides, on conforming molded base with shaped bracket feet, all on red-painted ground; appears to retain original wrought iron hinges
23 7/8in. high, 49¾in. wide, 21¾in. deep

Lot Essay

This chest is one of at least five that display red and black checkered decoration both in the borders surrounding the painted panels and in the flowerpots within the panels. The related chests are in the collections of the Reading Public Museum and Library, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Henry Ford Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (see Fabian, figs. 146 and 232; Shea, p.66; Garvan, p.18). The latter two vary from the others by only employing the checkered design in the arch surmounting each panel, with the panel sides enclosed by free-standing baluster-shaped columns. Such columns frequently adorn chests made in Berks County and suggest a similar place of origin for the chest offered here.