Lot Essay
Chests-of-drawers with blocked fronts were among of the more popular forms of case furniture owned by prominent families of Massachusetts in the middle of the 18th century. The first documented colonial blocked front case piece was siigned and dated by Job Coit and Job Coit, Jr. in 1738 (Evans, "The Genealogy fo a Bookcase Desk," Winterthur Portfolio, (Virginia, 1974), pp. 213-222). As the first Colonial community to produce the form, approximately thiry years before the block-and-shell examples from Newport, Boston cabinetmakers were still making blockfront bureaus for prominent clients late into tthe century (Lovell, "Boston Blockfront Furniture," Boston Furniture of the 18th Century, (Charlottesville, 1974), pp. 77-133.
This diminutive blockfront chest-of-drawers of only 30 1/2 inches in height and 34 inches in width at the extreme. Surfaced with soft undulating lines rather than the squared blocking, the facade prominently displays the original hardware iwth intricately shaped massive carrying handles. Rather than straight bracket or plain ogee feet, the double feet on this chest appear to suggest the scroll-carved feet of Newport examples, while maintaining the overall form of Boston bracket feet, hence reinforcing the strong ties between the two port communities. A reverse-serpentine chest-of-drawers with related feet is signed by James Minot of Boston, brother of cabinetmaker Martin Minot (see Antiques, vol 43, no. 5, (May, 1993), p. 7).
The construction of this chest is an interesting variant from most other examples. The top is rabbeted to receive the case sides, as in the standard manner, yet the rabbet is run all the way through the top and plugged from the front. The installation of the drawer supports is quite clever in that they are angled in and notched behind the drawer dividers to prevent their falling from the case sides. The other features, such as the giant dovetail and the strip of veneer that covers the dovetails of the drawer dividers, which are standard Boston case construction, are present.
A related chest with similar hardware is illustrated in Israel Sack, American Antiques, Vol. 6, (New York, 1979), p. 4445.
This diminutive blockfront chest-of-drawers of only 30 1/2 inches in height and 34 inches in width at the extreme. Surfaced with soft undulating lines rather than the squared blocking, the facade prominently displays the original hardware iwth intricately shaped massive carrying handles. Rather than straight bracket or plain ogee feet, the double feet on this chest appear to suggest the scroll-carved feet of Newport examples, while maintaining the overall form of Boston bracket feet, hence reinforcing the strong ties between the two port communities. A reverse-serpentine chest-of-drawers with related feet is signed by James Minot of Boston, brother of cabinetmaker Martin Minot (see Antiques, vol 43, no. 5, (May, 1993), p. 7).
The construction of this chest is an interesting variant from most other examples. The top is rabbeted to receive the case sides, as in the standard manner, yet the rabbet is run all the way through the top and plugged from the front. The installation of the drawer supports is quite clever in that they are angled in and notched behind the drawer dividers to prevent their falling from the case sides. The other features, such as the giant dovetail and the strip of veneer that covers the dovetails of the drawer dividers, which are standard Boston case construction, are present.
A related chest with similar hardware is illustrated in Israel Sack, American Antiques, Vol. 6, (New York, 1979), p. 4445.