Description:
High chest of drawers in cherry, made by Simeon Pomeroy Sr. (1725-1812) for a member of the Lyman family. The Lyman family has deep roots in Northampton with connections to the Pomeroys: Simeon Pomeroy’s second cousin, Ebenezer Pomeroy (1723-1801) of Northampton married Mindwell Lyman (1720-1797), and, in 1780, their daughter, Elizabeth (b. 1753) married Dr. Timothy Lyman. Pomeroy was born in Northampton in 1725, the youngest son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Strickland) Pomeroy. His father's inventory of 1749 shows that the Samuel Pomeroy was a cooper and that Simeon grew up around woodworking. He married Abigail Smith (1726-1820) in 1747 and may have lived for a time in Easthampton before moving to that part of Hadley which is now Amherst around 1750. It is possible that "Sim Pomeroy" was written by Simeon Pomeroy Jr. (1754-1847). Simeon Pomeroy, Sr. appropriated a popular high-chest design developed in Wethersfield, Connecticut, modifying it to local taste. He fit the pediment with a drawer in order to make use of otherwise empty space in the bonnet. A design rarely encountered in early American furniture outside of western Massachusetts, no other cabinetmakers in the Connecticut River Valley are known to have made furniture with this configuration of drawers. A dozen other examples of case furniture (including high chests of drawers, chests-on-chests and desks-and-bookcases) with this bonnet design have been attributed to Simeon Pomeroy on the basis of this documented high chest. The high chest of drawers is in two sections. The lower case has four cabriole legs beneath a Wethersfield style skirt board of two long S-curves flanking a pair of compressed S-curves; beneath a "shell draw" flanked by two small draws; below a long drawer, all reinforced by fully mortised and tenoned drawer dividers and by two large diagonal braces across the top of the lower case in the manner of the frames that support some scalloped tops chests. Pomeroy copied the shape of the skirt - two large S-curve elements flanking two small s-curve elements - from high chests made in Wethersfield and Windsor, Connecticut, where he may have trained. The upper case has five tiers of graduated drawers, the uppermost being composed of three drawers beneath a shell drawer in the scrolled pediment that is enclosed and surmounted by two rosettes that are linked by cornice molding. Pomeroy's signature design was inserting a drawer in the tympanum of this high chest’s scrolled pediment in place of the customary plinth and center finial. Condition: missing two rear brackets, braces reinforced, drawer facade pieced out and refinished. The top center drawer front is cherry, and the side of the lower central drawer is white pine.
Label Text:
Simeon Pomeroy, Sr. appropriated a popular high-chest design developed in Wethersfield, Connecticut modifying it to local taste. He fit the pediment with a drawer in order to make use of otherwise wasted space in the bonnet. Pomeroy inserted a drawer in the tympanum of this high chest’s scrolled pediment in place of the customary plinth and center finial. This is his signature design. Rarely encountered in early American furniture outside of western Massachusetts, no other cabinetmakers in the Connecticut River Valley are known to have made furniture with this configuration of drawers. He copied the shape of the skirt—two large S-curve elements flanking two small s-curve elements—from high chests made in Wethersfield and Windsor, Connecticut, where he may have trained.
On this example, Pomeroy, or his son, Simeon Pomeroy, Jr. (b. 1754) signed the inside of the shell door on the lower case “Sim Pomeroy.” A dozen other examples of case furniture (including high chests of drawers, chests-on-chests and desks-and-bookcases) with this bonnet design have been attributed to Simeon Pomeroy on the basis of this documented high chest. The youngest son of Northampton cooper Samuel Pomeroy and Elizabeth (Strickland) Pomeroy, Simeon Pomeroy married Abigail Smith in 1747 and lived in Easthampton before moving, around 1750, to the eastern section of Hadley that became the town of Amherst.
Original owner: Several ink inscriptions in the flanking drawers of the lower cases include the name "Lyman" and "Northampton." Lyman was an old Northampton family with connections to the Pomeroys: Simeon Pomeroy’s second cousin, Ebenezer Pomeroy (1723-1801) of Northampton, married Mindwell Lyman (1720-1797), and, in 1780, their daughter, Elizabeth (b. 1753) married Dr. Timothy Lyman.
Take note!
●Simeon Pomeroy, the maker, inserted a drawer in the tympanum of this high chest’s scrolled pediment in place of the customary plinth and center finial. This was his signature design.
●He copied the shape of the skirt—2 large S-curve elements flanking 2 small s-curve elements—from high chests made in Wethersfield and Windsor, Connecticut, where he may have trained.
Simeon Pomeroy, Sr. (1725-1812) appropriated a popular high-chest design developed in Wethersfield, Connecticut modifying it to local taste. He fit the pediment with a drawer in order to make use of otherwise empty space in the bonnet. A design rarely encountered in early American furniture outside of western Massachusetts, no other cabinetmakers in the Connecticut River Valley are known to have made furniture with this configuration of drawers.
On this example, Pomeroy, or his son, Simeon Pomeroy, Jr. (b. 1754) signed the inside of the shell drawer on the lower case “Sim Pomeroy.” A dozen other examples of case furniture (including high chests of drawers, chests-on-chests and desks-and-bookcases) with this bonnet design have been attributed to Simeon Pomeroy on the basis of this documented high chest. The youngest son of Northampton cooper Samuel Pomeroy and Elizabeth (Strickland) Pomeroy, Simeon Pomeroy married Abigail Smith in 1747 and lived in Easthampton before moving, around 1750, to the eastern section of Hadley that became the town of Amherst.
Original owner:
Several ink inscriptions in the flanking drawers of the lower cases include the name "Lyman" and "Northampton." Lyman was an old Northampton family with connections to the Pomeroys: Simeon Pomeroy’s 2nd cousin, Ebenezer Pomeroy (1723-1801) of Northampton, married Mindwell Lyman (1720-1797), and, in 1780, their daughter, Elizabeth (b. 1753) married Dr. Timothy Lyman.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+84.023 |
