Description:
Rectangular bureau with a narrow, scalloped back board with large central rosette and two smaller rosettes on either side. There are four graduated drawers with original lion's head brasses; over a scalloped base; and four elongated, turned feet. The backboards are set into a groove on either side of the case, but not into the top, making it unlikely this bureau was made by Daniel Clay, as previously suggested. On the sides are cherry panels framed with mahogany. They are joined into the case and not floating, seen in the vertical cracks running the entire height of both boards. There is no bottom board, and the pine used to frame the bottom of the case does not cover the entire depth, suggesting a cutting of corners with limited available resources. The inside of the drawer fronts are laminated pine blocks, a technique often associated with the eastern coast of New England. This bureau and bedstead (2004.44.2) were probably wedding gifts to Betsey Dole (1794-1862) of Shelburne, Massachusetts, daughter of Captain Parker Dole (1764-1834) and Anna Trowbridge Dole, when she married Ashley Hubbard (1793-1861) of Sunderland, Massachusetts, in 1822. The couple lived in the Hubbard family homestead in present-day Sunderland, which was built by Ashley's grandfather, Israel Hubbard (1725-1817) in 1763. Israel, his son, Caleb Hubbard (1754-1850), and Ashley successively operated the homestead as a tavern and inn until 1839. See 89.010, 89.011, and 89.044 for oil portraits of Ashley, Betsey, and Caleb painted by Erastus Salisbury Field (1805-1900) in the winter of 1836-1837, and a later portrait of Betsey, 89.046. Both the bureau and bedstead remained in the Hubbard homestead until HD acquired them in 2004.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2004.44.1 |
