.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Bearing its original stepped shelves, this high chest is an extremely rare survival. Made to exhibit valued ceramics imported from England and the East, the shelves created an aesthetic reminiscent of Daniel Marot's designs of elaborate mantels adorned with a multitude of shelves for the display of costly blue-and-white Chinese porcelain. Such shelves, however, are not found on English precedents and indicate restrained adaption of European taste unique to colonial America.
Without permanent joining to the case, shelves such as these rarely have survived with their original case forms. While some examples have shelves that merely rest on the tops of cases, the shelves on the chest offered here are held in place by three strips applied to the case top that surrounded the bottom shelf. Details of the construction and decoration on the shelves confirm their original placement on top of this chest. Their dovetailed construction matches the joints on the drawer sides and their applied double-beaded molding was made from the same plane that was used for the drawer surrounds and the top of the drawer sides.
Though long associated with Connecticut, stepped high chests were made throughout New England. This chest's use of cherrywood initially suggests a Connecticut origin, but the profile of the skirt and the drawers' large dovetails extending beyond the backboards are typical of Massachusetts work and may indicate the work of a craftsman in the upper Connecticut River Valley. Stepped high chests begin to appear in New England probate inventories as early as 1733 and this high chest was probably one of the earlier examples of the form. A feature common on Massachusetts William and Mary high chests, the pulvinated frieze on the chest's cornice is a feature rarely seen on Queen Anne furniture and its use here suggests that this high chest was made not long after the popularity of the William and Mary style.
For other examples of stepped chests, see Ward, American Case Furniture, (New Haven, 1988), cat. 137, pp. 261-263; Fales, The Furniture of Historic Deerfield, (Deerfield, 1981), cat. 384, p.184; Lockwood, Colonial Furniture in America, (New York, 1926), fig.86, p.90; Zea, catalogue entry, The Great River: Art and Society of the Connecticut Valley, 1635-1820 (Hartford, 1985), cat. 108, pp. 227-228; Gaines, "The step-top highboy," Antiques (October 1957), pp. 332-334; DaSilva Inc., Antiques (January 1977), p.51; Nathan Liverant and Son Antiques, Antiques (September 1993), p.275; a chest Sold in these Rooms, 23 January 1993, lot 530.
Without permanent joining to the case, shelves such as these rarely have survived with their original case forms. While some examples have shelves that merely rest on the tops of cases, the shelves on the chest offered here are held in place by three strips applied to the case top that surrounded the bottom shelf. Details of the construction and decoration on the shelves confirm their original placement on top of this chest. Their dovetailed construction matches the joints on the drawer sides and their applied double-beaded molding was made from the same plane that was used for the drawer surrounds and the top of the drawer sides.
Though long associated with Connecticut, stepped high chests were made throughout New England. This chest's use of cherrywood initially suggests a Connecticut origin, but the profile of the skirt and the drawers' large dovetails extending beyond the backboards are typical of Massachusetts work and may indicate the work of a craftsman in the upper Connecticut River Valley. Stepped high chests begin to appear in New England probate inventories as early as 1733 and this high chest was probably one of the earlier examples of the form. A feature common on Massachusetts William and Mary high chests, the pulvinated frieze on the chest's cornice is a feature rarely seen on Queen Anne furniture and its use here suggests that this high chest was made not long after the popularity of the William and Mary style.
For other examples of stepped chests, see Ward, American Case Furniture, (New Haven, 1988), cat. 137, pp. 261-263; Fales, The Furniture of Historic Deerfield, (Deerfield, 1981), cat. 384, p.184; Lockwood, Colonial Furniture in America, (New York, 1926), fig.86, p.90; Zea, catalogue entry, The Great River: Art and Society of the Connecticut Valley, 1635-1820 (Hartford, 1985), cat. 108, pp. 227-228; Gaines, "The step-top highboy," Antiques (October 1957), pp. 332-334; DaSilva Inc., Antiques (January 1977), p.51; Nathan Liverant and Son Antiques, Antiques (September 1993), p.275; a chest Sold in these Rooms, 23 January 1993, lot 530.