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Lot Essay
Surviving in pristine condition with its original brasses and a Sack provenance, this chest-of-drawers is a significant example of an important group of bombé forms made in late eighteenth-century Marblehead, Massachusetts. The group comprises eleven or twelve chests-of-drawers and four chest-on-chests (see below) that are distinguished by the design of the base moldings, bracket feet and pendant drops and share a number of salient construction details. The quality of the workmanship, as evidenced by the chest offered here, as well as the number and import of survivals, indicates that this as yet unidentified shop was one of the most sophisticated and industrious of its time.
As first identified by Brock Jobe and Myrna Kaye, the chests-of-drawers from the group display similar designs for the ogee foot brackets and central drop, exposed rails beneath the bottom drawers and, apart from two chests, tops with notched front corners (Brock Jobe and Myrna Kaye, New England Furniture: The Colonial Era (Boston, 1984), pp. 152-153). The presence of the same base molding is particularly relevant as the composite profile, consisting of a small fillet, ogee and large fillet, is unusual and is not seen on furniture outside of the group. Positioned along the base of the exposed rail, the molding pattern may have been specially chosen as the uppermost small fillet visually repeats the cockbeaded surrounds on the other rails. Other bombé furniture forms generally display base molding profiles composed of an ogee, quarter-round and large fillet and for the most part lack the fully exposed lowermost rail. Variations within the group are minimal and may indicate the presence of multiple workers or an evolution of shop practices. Differences include the presence or lack of a full dustboard between the second and third drawers, the retention or removal of the excess wood on the interior bulges of the case sides and the shaping of the rear foot brackets. Here, the chest lacks the dustboard, the excess wood has been removed and the rear brackets have an ogee profile. In addition, the four chest-on-chests feature these key design elements and attest to the prominence of this shop.
Based on the research of Kemble Widmer II and Judy Anderson, the details of construction seen in this group of chests suggest that they were made in Marblehead. In their comparative studies of eighteenth-century furniture from Boston and the North Shore towns of Salem, Marblehead and Ipswich, Widmer and Anderson uncovered patterns of workmanship that when seen together enable an attribution to one of these locales. The drawer bottoms on this chest and several others from the group are placed with the grain running from front to back, a practice seen in Marblehead and Boston until about 1780. After about 1780, cabinetmakers from these towns began the more sound practice of placing the boards with the grain running from side to side, a method that had been used by Salem woodworkers since the 1740s. The tops of the drawer sides are embellished with a widely spaced double bead, a profile that appears on furniture from both Salem and Marblehead. Thus, based on just these two features, the only town in which they both appear prior to circa 1780 is Marblehead. Further details support this attribution. The ogee foot brackets and central drop have distinct profiles-drops with a central astragal lobe flanked by small astragal drops and feet with small astragal drops and with an outward-pointing cusp, in effect echoing in mirror image profile of the central drop. As noted by Widmer and Anderson, these designs are not seen on either Boston or Salem furniture, but do appear on furniture signed by Marblehead cabinetmakers Nathan Bowen (1752-1837), Ebenezer Martin (1750-1800), Benjamin Tyler Reed (1741-1792) and Francis Cook (1734-1772) (Kemble Widmer II and Judy Anderson, "Furniture from Marblehead, Massachusetts," The Magazine Antiques (May 2003), pp. 99, 102, 103; Kemble Widmer II, catalogue note, Sotheby's, New York, 22-23 January 2010, lot 505, available online; see also a serpentine-front chest-on-chest signed by both Martin and Bowen, 1780, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acc. no. 33.373; a 1784 desk signed by Martin, cited by Widmer 2010; a desk signed by Reed, Israel Sack, Inc., advertisement, The Magazine Antiques (September 1996), inside front cover; a chest-on-chest signed by Cook, Marblehead Historical Society, acc. no. 1910.31). Besides the pendant and bracket design, the known work of all of these cabinetmakers diverge in varying degrees to the practices of the group discussed above, most notably in the presence of the more standard profile of the base moldings. As such, this important group of bombé chests and chests-on-chests appear to be the work of another shop that competed with these cabinetmakers in late eighteenth-century Marblehead.
This chest was formerly in the collection of Robert Lee Gill (1911-1998), a pioneering collector who purchased his first American antique in 1942. He was part of a small group of prominent collectors that were active before the mid-twentieth century and was a particular friend of Henry Francis du Pont. Gill endowed a research fellowship that continues to this day at Winterthur Museum and a red maple cultivar (October Glory) near the reflecting pool in the Museum’s gardens is dedicated to his memory (Roberta Smith, “Robert Gill, 87, Collector of American Antiques,” The New York Times, October 14, 1998, p. A21). Gill was a frequent patron of the renowned New York firm, Israel Sack, Inc., and though not known, it is likely that he acquired the chest from Sack. In 1976, the chest was sold through the Sack firm to Max Spencer Adler (1923-1979), a fighter pilot and prisoner of war during World War II, who founded the mass retailer Spencer Gifts in 1947. For the past forty five years, the chest has adorned the Manhattan residences of Adler and his widow, Mimi Polk Adler.
The other bombé chests in this group comprise: Christie’s, New York, 22 September 2014, lot 44; Christie's, New York, 24 January 2014, lot 146; Christie's, New York, 15-16 January 2004, lot 435; Christie's, New York, 16 January 1998, lot 469; Jobe and Kaye, pp. 151-154, cat. 18; Charles W. Lyon, advertisement, The Magazine Antiques (April 1961), p. 319 and Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, The Lansdell K. Christie Collection of Notable American Furniture, 21 October 1972, lot 60; Sotheby's, New York, 18 January 2001, lot 814 and Sotheby's, New York, 23 January 2009, lot 247; Ginsburg & Levy, advertisement, The Magazine Antiques (February 1950), p. 101; Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, The Garbisch Collection, 23-25 May 1980, vol. 4, lot 1159; Winterthur Library, Decorative Arts Photographic Collection (DAPC), 66.2373). Another example which may or may not duplicate the chest that sold at Christie's in January 2014 cited above is referenced in DAPC, 70.3778. The bombé chest-on-chests in this group comprise: Colonial Williamsburg, acc. no. 1935-343; Carnegie Museum of Art, acc. no. 72.55.1.A-B; Skinner, 1 November 2003, lot 110; Sotheby’s, New York, 24 January 2009, lot 174.
As first identified by Brock Jobe and Myrna Kaye, the chests-of-drawers from the group display similar designs for the ogee foot brackets and central drop, exposed rails beneath the bottom drawers and, apart from two chests, tops with notched front corners (Brock Jobe and Myrna Kaye, New England Furniture: The Colonial Era (Boston, 1984), pp. 152-153). The presence of the same base molding is particularly relevant as the composite profile, consisting of a small fillet, ogee and large fillet, is unusual and is not seen on furniture outside of the group. Positioned along the base of the exposed rail, the molding pattern may have been specially chosen as the uppermost small fillet visually repeats the cockbeaded surrounds on the other rails. Other bombé furniture forms generally display base molding profiles composed of an ogee, quarter-round and large fillet and for the most part lack the fully exposed lowermost rail. Variations within the group are minimal and may indicate the presence of multiple workers or an evolution of shop practices. Differences include the presence or lack of a full dustboard between the second and third drawers, the retention or removal of the excess wood on the interior bulges of the case sides and the shaping of the rear foot brackets. Here, the chest lacks the dustboard, the excess wood has been removed and the rear brackets have an ogee profile. In addition, the four chest-on-chests feature these key design elements and attest to the prominence of this shop.
Based on the research of Kemble Widmer II and Judy Anderson, the details of construction seen in this group of chests suggest that they were made in Marblehead. In their comparative studies of eighteenth-century furniture from Boston and the North Shore towns of Salem, Marblehead and Ipswich, Widmer and Anderson uncovered patterns of workmanship that when seen together enable an attribution to one of these locales. The drawer bottoms on this chest and several others from the group are placed with the grain running from front to back, a practice seen in Marblehead and Boston until about 1780. After about 1780, cabinetmakers from these towns began the more sound practice of placing the boards with the grain running from side to side, a method that had been used by Salem woodworkers since the 1740s. The tops of the drawer sides are embellished with a widely spaced double bead, a profile that appears on furniture from both Salem and Marblehead. Thus, based on just these two features, the only town in which they both appear prior to circa 1780 is Marblehead. Further details support this attribution. The ogee foot brackets and central drop have distinct profiles-drops with a central astragal lobe flanked by small astragal drops and feet with small astragal drops and with an outward-pointing cusp, in effect echoing in mirror image profile of the central drop. As noted by Widmer and Anderson, these designs are not seen on either Boston or Salem furniture, but do appear on furniture signed by Marblehead cabinetmakers Nathan Bowen (1752-1837), Ebenezer Martin (1750-1800), Benjamin Tyler Reed (1741-1792) and Francis Cook (1734-1772) (Kemble Widmer II and Judy Anderson, "Furniture from Marblehead, Massachusetts," The Magazine Antiques (May 2003), pp. 99, 102, 103; Kemble Widmer II, catalogue note, Sotheby's, New York, 22-23 January 2010, lot 505, available online; see also a serpentine-front chest-on-chest signed by both Martin and Bowen, 1780, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acc. no. 33.373; a 1784 desk signed by Martin, cited by Widmer 2010; a desk signed by Reed, Israel Sack, Inc., advertisement, The Magazine Antiques (September 1996), inside front cover; a chest-on-chest signed by Cook, Marblehead Historical Society, acc. no. 1910.31). Besides the pendant and bracket design, the known work of all of these cabinetmakers diverge in varying degrees to the practices of the group discussed above, most notably in the presence of the more standard profile of the base moldings. As such, this important group of bombé chests and chests-on-chests appear to be the work of another shop that competed with these cabinetmakers in late eighteenth-century Marblehead.
This chest was formerly in the collection of Robert Lee Gill (1911-1998), a pioneering collector who purchased his first American antique in 1942. He was part of a small group of prominent collectors that were active before the mid-twentieth century and was a particular friend of Henry Francis du Pont. Gill endowed a research fellowship that continues to this day at Winterthur Museum and a red maple cultivar (October Glory) near the reflecting pool in the Museum’s gardens is dedicated to his memory (Roberta Smith, “Robert Gill, 87, Collector of American Antiques,” The New York Times, October 14, 1998, p. A21). Gill was a frequent patron of the renowned New York firm, Israel Sack, Inc., and though not known, it is likely that he acquired the chest from Sack. In 1976, the chest was sold through the Sack firm to Max Spencer Adler (1923-1979), a fighter pilot and prisoner of war during World War II, who founded the mass retailer Spencer Gifts in 1947. For the past forty five years, the chest has adorned the Manhattan residences of Adler and his widow, Mimi Polk Adler.
The other bombé chests in this group comprise: Christie’s, New York, 22 September 2014, lot 44; Christie's, New York, 24 January 2014, lot 146; Christie's, New York, 15-16 January 2004, lot 435; Christie's, New York, 16 January 1998, lot 469; Jobe and Kaye, pp. 151-154, cat. 18; Charles W. Lyon, advertisement, The Magazine Antiques (April 1961), p. 319 and Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, The Lansdell K. Christie Collection of Notable American Furniture, 21 October 1972, lot 60; Sotheby's, New York, 18 January 2001, lot 814 and Sotheby's, New York, 23 January 2009, lot 247; Ginsburg & Levy, advertisement, The Magazine Antiques (February 1950), p. 101; Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, The Garbisch Collection, 23-25 May 1980, vol. 4, lot 1159; Winterthur Library, Decorative Arts Photographic Collection (DAPC), 66.2373). Another example which may or may not duplicate the chest that sold at Christie's in January 2014 cited above is referenced in DAPC, 70.3778. The bombé chest-on-chests in this group comprise: Colonial Williamsburg, acc. no. 1935-343; Carnegie Museum of Art, acc. no. 72.55.1.A-B; Skinner, 1 November 2003, lot 110; Sotheby’s, New York, 24 January 2009, lot 174.