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Lot Essay
Delicately embellished with a framework of compass-drawn arcs and flaring French feet, this blanket chest embraces the Federal aesthetic of early nineteenth-century America. Like its more densely decorated eighteenth-century predecessors, this Pennsylvania-German chest relies on paintwork to express the current fashion. Here, the painted arcs closely resemble stringing and the quarter-fans on the top are painted versions of inlaid devices seen frequently on other forms from this era.
This chest is one of at least six with red-painted grounds, the same framework of compass-drawn arcs and French feet. Perhaps because of their striking contrast to the well-known chests made by Pennsylvania-Germans during the Chippendale era, examples of this group including the present chest, were attributed to New England during the 1970s and early 1980s. However, noted first by Monroe Fabian in 1978, several of the group were found in Centre County, Pennsylvania and all were undoubtedly made in the vicinity. Decorative variations within the group include the corner embellishments, the placement of the outermost tulips, the motifs under the two central arcs and the decoration of the lowermost rail. Seen on this chest and its closest parallel, a chest at Historic Deerfield, Inc., the corners bear painted columns, the outermost tulips are contained within the arcs, vases each issuing a single berried stem are under the central arcs and the frontal design extends to the bottom of the lowermost rail (Dean A. Fales, Jr., The Furniture of Historic Deerfield (New York, 1976), p. 200, no. 411). A chest in the collection of Barbara Gordon illustrates alternative options with hearts on the corners, outermost tulips extending beyond the arcs, vases issuing multiple stems and a zig-zag pattern running along the lowermost rail (Richard Miller, catalogue entry, A Shared Legacy: Folk Art in America (New York, 2014), pp. 228-229, no. 60). The other three known chests comprise an example that sold at Skinner, Inc., March 1, 2015, lot 130 and two previously owned by Olde Hope Antiques, New Hope, Pennsylvania. Christie’s would like to thank Ed Hild of Olde Hope for sharing information on these chests.
As discussed by Richard Miller, the consistency in construction and decoration suggests the practice of a single shop and single decorator, possibly the same individual. Two later related examples, probably from another shop in the vicinity, feature facades with tulips all issuing from a central stem and turned rather than French feet. One of these has a blue ground and descended in the Beahm-Meyers family of The Forks (now Coburn), providing a possible origin for all of these forms (Miller, op. cit.; Pook & Pook, Downington, PA, 16 January 2010, lot 571; Monroe H. Fabian, The Pennsylvania-German Decorated Chest (New York, 1978), p. 214, no. 246).
This chest is one of at least six with red-painted grounds, the same framework of compass-drawn arcs and French feet. Perhaps because of their striking contrast to the well-known chests made by Pennsylvania-Germans during the Chippendale era, examples of this group including the present chest, were attributed to New England during the 1970s and early 1980s. However, noted first by Monroe Fabian in 1978, several of the group were found in Centre County, Pennsylvania and all were undoubtedly made in the vicinity. Decorative variations within the group include the corner embellishments, the placement of the outermost tulips, the motifs under the two central arcs and the decoration of the lowermost rail. Seen on this chest and its closest parallel, a chest at Historic Deerfield, Inc., the corners bear painted columns, the outermost tulips are contained within the arcs, vases each issuing a single berried stem are under the central arcs and the frontal design extends to the bottom of the lowermost rail (Dean A. Fales, Jr., The Furniture of Historic Deerfield (New York, 1976), p. 200, no. 411). A chest in the collection of Barbara Gordon illustrates alternative options with hearts on the corners, outermost tulips extending beyond the arcs, vases issuing multiple stems and a zig-zag pattern running along the lowermost rail (Richard Miller, catalogue entry, A Shared Legacy: Folk Art in America (New York, 2014), pp. 228-229, no. 60). The other three known chests comprise an example that sold at Skinner, Inc., March 1, 2015, lot 130 and two previously owned by Olde Hope Antiques, New Hope, Pennsylvania. Christie’s would like to thank Ed Hild of Olde Hope for sharing information on these chests.
As discussed by Richard Miller, the consistency in construction and decoration suggests the practice of a single shop and single decorator, possibly the same individual. Two later related examples, probably from another shop in the vicinity, feature facades with tulips all issuing from a central stem and turned rather than French feet. One of these has a blue ground and descended in the Beahm-Meyers family of The Forks (now Coburn), providing a possible origin for all of these forms (Miller, op. cit.; Pook & Pook, Downington, PA, 16 January 2010, lot 571; Monroe H. Fabian, The Pennsylvania-German Decorated Chest (New York, 1978), p. 214, no. 246).