BOSTON, 1740-1760

With its rounded block-front case, gilt and carved shell and turned finials, and fan inlays, this linen press is the product of the collaborative nature of a sophisticated Boston cabinet shop. The restrained, symmetrical exterior together with the use of pilasters and carved shell indicate that the shop was familiar with the current English taste based on the designs of Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). Alan Miller has identified two secretary bookcases that were likely produced in the same shop as the present lot. All have similar pediment profiles above four fluted pilasters with the interior arches featuring a pair of radiating fan-inlaid concave reserves, as well as thumb-nail molded drawers, rounded blocking on the top drawer and the absence of cockbeading. One of these two was likely first owned by Edward Jackson (1707/8-1757), a successful Boston merchant whose house stood on the south side of Court Street (Alan Miller, “Roman Gusto in New England: An Eighteenth-Century Boston Furniture Designer and His Shop,” American Furniture 1993, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, 1993), pp. 160, 195-196, figs. 54 and 55; Sotheby’s, New York, Important Americana: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Henry Meyer, 20 January 1996, lot 218).