Lot Essay
Perhaps the most well-known group of early Pennsylvania German chests is the Jonestown school of Lebanon County. First discussed by Esther Stevens Fraser, the early scholar of paint-decorated furniture, the group consists of chests signed in sgraffito on painted jars and urns by members of the Seltzer and Ranck families of Jonestown. The school flourished from the 1770s to the 1820s and involved at least four or five decorators: Christian Seltzer (1749-1831), his son John, brothers John and Peter Ranck, and Michel Stoot (See Fabian, pp.64-65).
Signed by Christian Seltzer, this chest is one of the earliest examples known made by the founder of the school. At least twelve other chests are known that bear Christian Seltzer's signature. With dates ranging from 1775 to 1797, the chests are in the following collections: the William Penn Memorial Museum, dated 1775; the Smithsonian, dated 1777; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, dated 1783; the Henry Ford Museum, dated 1784; Reading Public Museum and Library, dated 1784; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dated 1785; Winterthur Museum, dated 1796; five others are recorded in the Winterthur Library: Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, nos. 79.1330, 77.1359, 78.407, 78.1032, 76.1283 (See Jonathan L. Fairbanks and Elizabeth Bidwell Bates, American Furniture (New York: Richard Marek Publishers, 1981), p.323; Fabian, figs. 105, 106, 210 and 211; Fales, fig. 446; Ethel Hall Bjerkoe, The Cabinetmakers of America (New York: Bonanza Books, 1957), pl. VII, no. 1; Richard H. Randall, American Furniture (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1965), no. 18.
Signed by Christian Seltzer, this chest is one of the earliest examples known made by the founder of the school. At least twelve other chests are known that bear Christian Seltzer's signature. With dates ranging from 1775 to 1797, the chests are in the following collections: the William Penn Memorial Museum, dated 1775; the Smithsonian, dated 1777; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, dated 1783; the Henry Ford Museum, dated 1784; Reading Public Museum and Library, dated 1784; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dated 1785; Winterthur Museum, dated 1796; five others are recorded in the Winterthur Library: Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, nos. 79.1330, 77.1359, 78.407, 78.1032, 76.1283 (See Jonathan L. Fairbanks and Elizabeth Bidwell Bates, American Furniture (New York: Richard Marek Publishers, 1981), p.323; Fabian, figs. 105, 106, 210 and 211; Fales, fig. 446; Ethel Hall Bjerkoe, The Cabinetmakers of America (New York: Bonanza Books, 1957), pl. VII, no. 1; Richard H. Randall, American Furniture (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1965), no. 18.