Description:
This gray-painted documented box has a distinctive punch-decorated front panel, similar to that on a six-board chest in Historic Deerfield's collection (84.003) and on an almost identical chest inscribed: "IS/1699" that was found in the Sheldon House attic in Deerfield now in the collection of Historic New England (1991.1474). A fourth object that belongs to this group is illustrated in Wallace Nutting's 1928 Furniture Treasury, which at that time belonged to Hartford collector William Brownell Goodwin (1866-1950) who bequeathed his collection to the Wadsworth Atheneum (1950.809). The initials “RD” inscribed on the front of the box likely represent the unidentified original owner. Document boxes, such as this, were an important piece of furniture in late seventeenth and early eighteenth century homes. They stored books, Bibles, documents, money, textiles, cutlery, and other valuable family possessions. Their ornamented and sometimes colorful exteriors became part of a home’s interior furnishing. It is made of simple board construction, with its sides rabbeted into the front panel, and the top affixed to the rear board with gimmal, or snipe, hinges. In the 1940s, Susan B. Hawks (1883-1946) of Deerfield sold the 1699 chest to Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little, and is now in the collection of Historic New England (1991.1474). Hawks published an article in 1941 positing that John Hawks, a carpenter-joiner who lived in Deerfield from 1680 to around 1704, when his wife and daughter were killed in the 1704 raid, made the 1699 chest. A fourth object that belongs to this group is illustrated in Wallace Nutting's 1928 Furniture Treasury, which at that time belonged to Hartford collector William Brownell Goodwin (1866-1950) who bequeathed his collection to the Wadsworth Atheneum (191950.809). “RD” likely represents the unidentified original owner. Its overhanging top and thumbnail molding on the sides of the front panel are features found in contemporary examples made in New England. Document boxes, such as this, were an important piece of furniture in late seventeenth and early eighteenth century homes. Their ornamented and sometimes colorful exteriors became part of a home’s interior furnishing. This box appears to retain its second campaign of paint. Like other chests and boxes made in this period, it is made of simple board construction. The sides are rabbeted into the front panel, and the top is affixed to the rear board with gimmal, or snipe, hinges. It is missing its proper left rear cleat.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2019.4.2 |
