Lot Essay
Emblazened with the German inscription reading "This chest belongs to me Barbara Staufer," this chest is one of at least ten with similar inscriptions followed by both male and female names. Several of these, including the example offered here, also bear the initials "JF" and as such, they are attributed to John Flory (b.1754), a joiner working in the Rapho Township of Lancaster County. Bearing dates ranging from 1788-1800, the chests are further related by the open layout of their decoration that features twelve-pointed stars, birds, flowers, horses and unicorns arranged symmetrically. Slight differences in the lettering, however, indicates that more than one person decorated these chests (for related examples, see Fabian, figs. 135, 136, 137 and 225).
The Stauffer family was prominent in eighteenth and ninteenth-century Lancaster County (Biographical Annals of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania vols. I-IV, Spartanburg, S.C.: The Reprint Company, 1985). A possible relation to this chest's owner is A. Barbara Stauffer who married Philip Rank in 1762 in Lititz (William L. and Shirley G. M. Iscrupe, Authentic History of Lancaster County, Laughlintown, PA: Southwest Pennsylvania Genealogical Services, 1988, p.b3). Interestingly, a John Flory married a woman named Anna Stauffer in the Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster (Fabian, p.79, fn.97.) Though this John Flory was probably not the maker described above, the marriage suggests a familial relationship between the maker and owner of this chest.
The Stauffer family was prominent in eighteenth and ninteenth-century Lancaster County (Biographical Annals of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania vols. I-IV, Spartanburg, S.C.: The Reprint Company, 1985). A possible relation to this chest's owner is A. Barbara Stauffer who married Philip Rank in 1762 in Lititz (William L. and Shirley G. M. Iscrupe, Authentic History of Lancaster County, Laughlintown, PA: Southwest Pennsylvania Genealogical Services, 1988, p.b3). Interestingly, a John Flory married a woman named Anna Stauffer in the Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster (Fabian, p.79, fn.97.) Though this John Flory was probably not the maker described above, the marriage suggests a familial relationship between the maker and owner of this chest.