SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, 1780-1800

This chest's fluted stiles and square-cornered top are reminiscent of the Gostelowe School of Philadelphia. Microanalysis indicates, however, that the secondary wood is white pine, a finding that suggests the Salem attribution. Furthermore, other aspects of the chest, including the canted corners and dropped pendant shell, are hallmark Salem treatments. The shell carving is very similar to that of various other Salem pieces including a chest attributed to Henry Rust, a slant-front desk and a desk-and-bookcase (Richards, New England Furniture at Winterthur (Winterthur, 1997), p.377, fig. 185; Jobe and Kaye, New England Furniture: The Colonial Era (Boston, 1984), p.28, fig. I-28; Heckscher, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1985), p. 279, no. 181). The vertical lift of the bracket feet, in contrast to the more squat Philadelphia form, is also analogous to that of other Salem pieces.

Aside from the standard Salem treatments discussed above, the chest offered here features two unique characteristics that distinguish it from other surviving pieces of the period. One attribute is the dressing or brush slide, a sliding panel above the drawers upon which clothing was laid to facilitate their cleaning. A component favored by the English, the slide is seldom found on American pieces; another Salem chest with canted corners in the collection of the Diplomatic Rooms in the Department of State also bears this feature (Conger, Treasures of State (New York, 1991), p. 179, fig. 91).