A Chippendale Mahogany Linen Press

The Irish immigrant James McCormick is recorded in Baltimore in 1786, but over the next five years he moved variously to Alexandria, then to Norfolk, and finally to Petersburg, Virginia, presumably to try to improve his opportunities for work. McCormick contributed to the revival of British taste in these Virginia cities, and his British training is apparent in the planar design of this linen press, which relates closely to British precedents. For more on McCormick, See Hurst and Prown, Southern Furniture 1680-1830 (Williamsburg, 1997), p. 117 and 363.