The provenance of this chest links it directly to ownership by the Revolutionary war hero, General John Stark (1728-1822). Stark was a captain in the French and Indian War, fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the seige of Boston, and commanded the victorious troops against the British in the Battle of Bennington, in 1777. At a post-war address, the general coined the phrase, "Live Free or Die," which went on to become the New Hampshire state motto, adopted in 1945.
Characteristic in form, arrangement of veneers, and construction techniques to chests-of-drawers made in New Hampshire after the Revolutionary war, this example is bold in stance with high outswept French bracket feet. The chest remained in the Stark homestead in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, a town which he helped settle, until 1928 when it descended through relatives and was then purchased by Israel Sack, Inc.