.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Featuring richly-grained mahogany veneers and a boldly-shaped skirt, this chest is further distinguished by diamond-shaped ivory escutcheons and chamfered corners inlaid with delicate twisting line inlay headed by four-petaled flowers. It relates closely, both stylistically and with regard to construction, to a small group of chests of similar large size and restrained ornamental scheme attributed to Norfolk, Virginia; a chest of similar construction and design is illustrated in Ronald L. Hurst and Jonathan Prown, Southern Furniture 1680-1830, The Colonial Williamsburg Collection (Williamsburg, 1997), pp. 363-366, cat. no. 114. All of the chests in this group exhibit the unique feature of drawer blades backed by dustboards that are thinner than the blades and stop just short of the back; the dustboards are wedged into dadoes with thin gluestrips underneath. Fully paneled backs are another common feature of this group; the backboards of this chest appear to be replaced, leaving the possibility open that it had a paneled back as well. Several of the Norfolk chests exhibit horizontally laminated foot blocking, although the vertical blocking of the kind seen on this chest was more commonly used with the splayed French foot (Hurst and Prown, p. 363).
The secondary woods used in the construction of this chest are exclusively white pine by microanalysis. While locally grown woods such as yellow pine are more frequently seen in Southern furniture, white pine appears with relative frequency (see Southern Furniture, nos. 114 and 125, among others).
The secondary woods used in the construction of this chest are exclusively white pine by microanalysis. While locally grown woods such as yellow pine are more frequently seen in Southern furniture, white pine appears with relative frequency (see Southern Furniture, nos. 114 and 125, among others).