Lot Essay
A similar chest-of-drawers from the Rhode Island/Southeastern Massachusetts area of New England appears in Charles F. Montgomery,
American Furniture: The Federal Period, (New York, 1966), fig. 137. In Montgomery's analysis of this chest-of-drawers, not only does he point out the originality of the brasses, but he goes on to suggest that the specific iconography of the stamped pattern on the escutcheons was a conscious self-identifying choice on the part of the original owner. If this is the case, then the choice of brasses used on this chest-of-drawers may also bear implications to its original owner as well. An additional related chest-of-drawers, dated to circa 1775-1790 from Massachusetts, is illustrated in Sack, American Antiques from the Israel Sack Collection, vol. 2, no. 16, p. 514, fig. 1229.
American Furniture: The Federal Period, (New York, 1966), fig. 137. In Montgomery's analysis of this chest-of-drawers, not only does he point out the originality of the brasses, but he goes on to suggest that the specific iconography of the stamped pattern on the escutcheons was a conscious self-identifying choice on the part of the original owner. If this is the case, then the choice of brasses used on this chest-of-drawers may also bear implications to its original owner as well. An additional related chest-of-drawers, dated to circa 1775-1790 from Massachusetts, is illustrated in Sack, American Antiques from the Israel Sack Collection, vol. 2, no. 16, p. 514, fig. 1229.