STONINGTON OR GROTON-LEDYARD, CONNECTICUT, 1760-1800

This high chest and the similar example, lot 585, are part of a related group of flat-top high chests. Those with histories of ownership come from families in either the Stonington or Groton-Ledyard coastal communities. Minor Myers, Jr. and Edgar deN. Mayhew identified this school of cabinetmakers, or perhaps a singular shop, in their exhibition and catalog, New London County Furniture, 1640-1840 (New London, CT, 1991), p. 27, nos. 22-23. They further suggest, on the basis of a high chest with a history of ownership in the Smith and Hyde families of Stonington, and a cabinetmaker's tool branded Smith, that an unidentified member of the Smith family, possibly Jonathan Smith, was the maker. The high chests in this group are all flat-top examples, employ the same drawer arrangements and have very similar skirt designs although occasionally with slight variation. All of them eschew the use of knee brackets.