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Lot Essay
A superb example of high style Philadelphia rococo design and craftsmanship, this high chest bears similarities to cases produced by William Wayne and carving attributed to Nicholas Bernard and Martin Jugiez (d. 1815).
This chest's form relates closely to the Samuel Wallis family high chest (illustrated in Horner, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture (Washington, D.C., 1935), plate 121), which is documented in a surviving bill from the cabinetmaker William Wayne. With a five stop-fluted lobed shell, acanthus leaf carving with V-shaped central passage and four-point punch detailing, the shell on this chest is similar to that on the Wallis chest, which is attributed to Bernard and Jugiez.
The attribution of the carving on the Wallis family chest is discussed in Beckerdite, "Philadelphia Carving Shops, Part II: Bernard and Jugiez," Antiques (September 1985), pp. 498-513, fig. 20. A dressing table with virtually identical carving and attributed to Bernard and Jugiez is ilustrated in the same article, fig. 19.
This chest's form relates closely to the Samuel Wallis family high chest (illustrated in Horner, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture (Washington, D.C., 1935), plate 121), which is documented in a surviving bill from the cabinetmaker William Wayne. With a five stop-fluted lobed shell, acanthus leaf carving with V-shaped central passage and four-point punch detailing, the shell on this chest is similar to that on the Wallis chest, which is attributed to Bernard and Jugiez.
The attribution of the carving on the Wallis family chest is discussed in Beckerdite, "Philadelphia Carving Shops, Part II: Bernard and Jugiez," Antiques (September 1985), pp. 498-513, fig. 20. A dressing table with virtually identical carving and attributed to Bernard and Jugiez is ilustrated in the same article, fig. 19.