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Lot Essay
With its distinctive pediment, incised and carved decorative elements, and overall form, this high chest can be firmly placed among the finest products of New London County cabinetmaking. Probably made in Colchester (approximately 15 miles from Norwich), the chest exhibits characteristics adapted from other regional centers as well as features unique to the immediate region. The Boston influence can be seen in the contour of the skirt and form of the lower case, legs, and overall drawer arrangement. The Philadelphia influence is evidenced by the profile of the arched pediment. The drawer-filled tympanum and high pitch of the scroll pediment is reminiscent of Newport preferences. The concave carved fans and other varied surface treatments have also been influenced by the carved shells of Newport. These elements were known and were adapted most notably by Colchester cabinetmakers, Benjamin Burnham and Samuel Loomis (For more on these makers see Robert F. Trent, "The Colchester School of Cabinetmaking, 1750-1800" in Francis J. Puig & Michael Conforti, American Craftsmen Working in the European Tradition 1620-1820, (Minneapolis, 1989), pp.112-118.
Aside from the form of the upper section of the case, the Colchester origins of this chest can be suggested on the basis of its carved and incised decoration such as: the pin wheel incised and punched rosettes of the pediment, the incised interlaced band above both top and bottom fans and radiating lines within them; the differentiation between the top naturalistically carved fan from the bottom geometrically carved fan; the scrolled element and central lily shaped flute appearing in the upper fan-carved drawer; the wide horizontal fluting beneath the shell in lower case. It has been suggested by Robert Trent that the imaginative improvisations on elements of decoration such as the multiplication of moldings, novel ornaments or additions of incised lines was the response to the pressure exerted on local craftsmen to create unique forms for their important patrons-- rather than the evidence of whimsical or "naive enthusiasm" (see Trent, p.117).
For related high chests see Trent, figure 49, p.129, and The Connecticut Historical Society, Frederick K. & Margaret R. Barbour's Furniture Collection (Connecticut, 1963), p.51, and for a chest-on-chest with related features, see John T. Kirk, Connecticut Furniture: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, An Exhibition Organized by the Wadsworth Atheneum for its One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition (Hartford, 1967), p.59, fig.99.
Aside from the form of the upper section of the case, the Colchester origins of this chest can be suggested on the basis of its carved and incised decoration such as: the pin wheel incised and punched rosettes of the pediment, the incised interlaced band above both top and bottom fans and radiating lines within them; the differentiation between the top naturalistically carved fan from the bottom geometrically carved fan; the scrolled element and central lily shaped flute appearing in the upper fan-carved drawer; the wide horizontal fluting beneath the shell in lower case. It has been suggested by Robert Trent that the imaginative improvisations on elements of decoration such as the multiplication of moldings, novel ornaments or additions of incised lines was the response to the pressure exerted on local craftsmen to create unique forms for their important patrons-- rather than the evidence of whimsical or "naive enthusiasm" (see Trent, p.117).
For related high chests see Trent, figure 49, p.129, and The Connecticut Historical Society, Frederick K. & Margaret R. Barbour's Furniture Collection (Connecticut, 1963), p.51, and for a chest-on-chest with related features, see John T. Kirk, Connecticut Furniture: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, An Exhibition Organized by the Wadsworth Atheneum for its One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition (Hartford, 1967), p.59, fig.99.