Description:
William and Mary safe or valuables chest in walnut and yellow and white pine, covered with old black paint - a rare eighteenth-century example that looks like a miniature high chest of drawers. Capable craftsmen built miniature furniture for use and enjoyment by children; they did not construct "salesman's samples" since most cabinetmakers were not itinerant and a full-sized product, partially made in the shop or already in the home of a happy patron, was a better, practical endorsement of style and technique than a miniaturized adaptation. Adults also used miniature furniture, like this wonderful safe, to protect valuables and papers (rarely spices). The upper section is secured with a lock, but was easily portable in an emergency or simply in transit. The upper section has a flat top with double-arch molding over a center raised panel door with lock, which has been replaced, opening to nine drawers. The center drawer has a false bottom, from the rear of which a secret drawer can be pulled. There is double-arch mid-molding over the lower section over three short drawers; the pulls have been replaced. The lower section has an elaborately scrolled apron over four trumpet legs with serpentine stretchers and a center finial. According to Robert Trent, "The concept of concealing drawers with doors is a typical Mannerist design strategy. It is also typical of the seventeeth-century mentality to have a small portable box containing important papers and cash or jewelry, which could be kept in the bed chambers and easily carried out of the house in case of fire."
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+58.173 |
