PROPERTY FROM A DESCENDANT OF THE ORIGINAL OWNER
A CHIPPENDALE INLAID WALNUT SPICE CHEST

Details
A CHIPPENDALE INLAID WALNUT SPICE CHEST
CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, DATED 1762

The architectural molded pediment projecting above a conforming case with a tombstone paneled cupboard door with line and berry inlay inscribed "M/SM/1762," opening to reveal an interior fitted with an arched core flanked by two drawers over three drawers above two drawers over one drawer, on bracket feet--19in. high, 14½in. wide, 10¾in. deep

Provenance
Samuel and Martha Miller, 1762
Jacob (1773 - 1816) and Mary Miller (1775 - 1860)
Thence by Descent to Present Owner

Lot Essay

With its straight molded pediment and paneled door, this diminutive chest is based aesthetically on English box forms and structurally on Germanic shop traditions. Probably made to commemorate the marriage of Samuel and Martha Miller in 1762, this chest is inlaid with their initials and the probable date of their marriage. A spice chest with similarly line-and-berry inlaid door and comparably fitted interior is illustrated in David H. Stockwell, "The Spice Cabinets of Pennsylvania and New Jersey," Philadelphia Furniture and Its Makers (New York, 1975), fig. 5, p. 23. A spice chest with similarly inlaid initials is illustrated in Margaret Schiffer, Furniture and Its Makers of Chester County, Pennsylvania, (Exton, PA., 1978), fig. 130.