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Lot Essay
Rendered with energized brushwork and a vivid palette, the paint-grained surface of this chest-of-drawers goes beyond imitation and becomes its own artistic creation. The decorator used a number of different tools and brush strokes to replicate and exaggerate the variety of wood grains seen on Federal-era veneers and inlay: short, abrupt “feathered” paintwork for the banding on the drawers; sponge-pounced inner borders and “quarter fans,” long, undulating strokes for the expanses across the drawer fronts, and swirling, haphazard or plume-like applications to suggest an assortment of burled woods. In all these strokes, the quick motions of the painting process are clearly evident. The drawers are also embellished with string inlay, but it was applied after the paintwork, perhaps so as to not constrict the paint decorator’s vigorous technique. The result is a dynamic, almost frenetic, decorative effect that surpasses even the most liveliest of wood veneers.
The exuberant paintwork on this chest places it as among the supreme examples of the so-called Matteson school active in South Shaftsbury, Vermont during the early nineteenth century. Today comprising approximately seventeen known examples, the group was first identified by Caroline Hebb in 1973, who published two chests, both dated 1824, signed "Thomas Matteson" and "Thomas G. Matison." While there has been debate about whether the signatures represent makers, decorators or owners, the subsequent discoveries of more forms signed by various members of the family strongly indicates that they were involved in the production; furthermore, one of these explicitly identifies a paint-decorator: "Benonia Matteson to B. Burlingame Dr. [debit] / To Paint $2.70 / To Paint & Grain Chest $2.00 / $4.70." Within the group, the painted decoration can be attributed to at least two different hands. Most display a more restrained, literal imitation of wood graining, while the fanciful paintwork on this chest is seen on only a few others, such as the chests-with-drawers at the American Folk Art Museum (acc. no. 1991.10.1) and those that sold, Christie’s, New York, 20 January 2012, lot 188 and Sotheby’s, New York, 17 January 2019, lot 1471).
Displaying remarkable similarity in the forms' design and construction, the group was most likely made in a single shop or perhaps two shops in close proximity. The chests include four-drawer examples, as seen here, but also lift-top chests, some with simulated drawer fronts, over one, two or no drawers. Many display similar serpentine skirts centered by a notched lobe with tall, tapering feet and distinctive rear triangular rear brackets with a gently curved inner profiles. Furthermore, inscriptions such as "Back Side" and "Bottom" in particularly flowery script, presumably written by the cabinetmaker, appear on a number of examples; faint graphite marks on the upper backboard of the chest offered here may illustrate the same handwriting.
See Caroline Hebb, “A Distinctive Group of Early Vermont Painted Furniture,” The Magazine Antiques (September 1973), pp. 458-461; Cynthia van Allen Schaffner, "Matteson-Group Chests," Encyclopedia of American Folk Art (New York, 2004), pp. 307-308; Dean A. Fales, American Painted Furniture 1660-1880 (New York, 1972), p. 221; David Krashes, “The South Shaftsbury, Vermont, Painted Wooden Chests,” Rural New England Furniture: People, Place, and Production, Peter Benes, ed. (The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife Annual Proceedings, 26-28 June 1998), pp. 226-235; David Krashes, "New England Paint Decorated Chests: Discoveries of Attributions," Folk Art, vol. 25, no. 2 (summer 2000), pp. 38-45; Stacy C. Hollander, “Blanket Chest,” exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum, New York, 2014.
The exuberant paintwork on this chest places it as among the supreme examples of the so-called Matteson school active in South Shaftsbury, Vermont during the early nineteenth century. Today comprising approximately seventeen known examples, the group was first identified by Caroline Hebb in 1973, who published two chests, both dated 1824, signed "Thomas Matteson" and "Thomas G. Matison." While there has been debate about whether the signatures represent makers, decorators or owners, the subsequent discoveries of more forms signed by various members of the family strongly indicates that they were involved in the production; furthermore, one of these explicitly identifies a paint-decorator: "Benonia Matteson to B. Burlingame Dr. [debit] / To Paint $2.70 / To Paint & Grain Chest $2.00 / $4.70." Within the group, the painted decoration can be attributed to at least two different hands. Most display a more restrained, literal imitation of wood graining, while the fanciful paintwork on this chest is seen on only a few others, such as the chests-with-drawers at the American Folk Art Museum (acc. no. 1991.10.1) and those that sold, Christie’s, New York, 20 January 2012, lot 188 and Sotheby’s, New York, 17 January 2019, lot 1471).
Displaying remarkable similarity in the forms' design and construction, the group was most likely made in a single shop or perhaps two shops in close proximity. The chests include four-drawer examples, as seen here, but also lift-top chests, some with simulated drawer fronts, over one, two or no drawers. Many display similar serpentine skirts centered by a notched lobe with tall, tapering feet and distinctive rear triangular rear brackets with a gently curved inner profiles. Furthermore, inscriptions such as "Back Side" and "Bottom" in particularly flowery script, presumably written by the cabinetmaker, appear on a number of examples; faint graphite marks on the upper backboard of the chest offered here may illustrate the same handwriting.
See Caroline Hebb, “A Distinctive Group of Early Vermont Painted Furniture,” The Magazine Antiques (September 1973), pp. 458-461; Cynthia van Allen Schaffner, "Matteson-Group Chests," Encyclopedia of American Folk Art (New York, 2004), pp. 307-308; Dean A. Fales, American Painted Furniture 1660-1880 (New York, 1972), p. 221; David Krashes, “The South Shaftsbury, Vermont, Painted Wooden Chests,” Rural New England Furniture: People, Place, and Production, Peter Benes, ed. (The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife Annual Proceedings, 26-28 June 1998), pp. 226-235; David Krashes, "New England Paint Decorated Chests: Discoveries of Attributions," Folk Art, vol. 25, no. 2 (summer 2000), pp. 38-45; Stacy C. Hollander, “Blanket Chest,” exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum, New York, 2014.