Lot Essay
High chests of this stature with their additional embellishments, were specially commissioned by the merchant aristocracy who were among the wealthiest citizens in pre-revolutionary Boston. With its bonnet top, carved and gilded shells, figured walnut veneers, mariner's stars and fluted pilasters this high chest-of-drawers relates to a small group of high chest and dressing tables made in the Boston ares between 1830 and 1850. Evolving from its Japanned predecessors, this group retains a similar format of the case along with some of the decorative elements including gilded naturalistic shells and decorated case sides. Replacing the japanned decoration was the exuberant matched walnut veneers, on the front and the sides.
For other examples in this group see the Flayderman sale, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, January 2-4, 1930, lot 437; Heckscher, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1985), pp. 241-243, fig. 157; Randall, American Furniture in The Museum of Fine Arts Boston (Boston, 1965), no. 54; and Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection (New York, 1986), no. 20. The example in the Musuem of Fine Arts is signed and dated 1739 by Ebenezer Hartshorne, a joiner working in Charlestown between 1729 and 1743. Although the MFA's example is the only one signed and dated, this group may be closely associated to this date, by descriptions of these decorative details mentioned in Boston cabintetmakers's account books from the 1730's.
While each of these high chests retains the similar decorative elements, they appear to have been produced from different shops. While this example has inlaid compass stars on the case side, they are lacking in the tympanum. Conversely, the example in the Flayderman sale lacks the compass stars on the case sides, yet retains them in the bonnet. Most variation in this group lies in the handling of the decorative shell. This example along with the one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art has more naturalistic shells in a foliate ground while the other mentioned examples exhibit a lobed shell on a plain ground.
For other examples in this group see the Flayderman sale, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, January 2-4, 1930, lot 437; Heckscher, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1985), pp. 241-243, fig. 157; Randall, American Furniture in The Museum of Fine Arts Boston (Boston, 1965), no. 54; and Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection (New York, 1986), no. 20. The example in the Musuem of Fine Arts is signed and dated 1739 by Ebenezer Hartshorne, a joiner working in Charlestown between 1729 and 1743. Although the MFA's example is the only one signed and dated, this group may be closely associated to this date, by descriptions of these decorative details mentioned in Boston cabintetmakers's account books from the 1730's.
While each of these high chests retains the similar decorative elements, they appear to have been produced from different shops. While this example has inlaid compass stars on the case side, they are lacking in the tympanum. Conversely, the example in the Flayderman sale lacks the compass stars on the case sides, yet retains them in the bonnet. Most variation in this group lies in the handling of the decorative shell. This example along with the one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art has more naturalistic shells in a foliate ground while the other mentioned examples exhibit a lobed shell on a plain ground.