Description:
Apothecary chest on chest in white pine covered with blue-green paint (partially restored), which imitates the form of a slant top desk with a bookcase on top. The chest, which descended through the Perkins family of Newburyport, Massachusetts, may have been originally owned by Dr. Matthew Perkins (1687-1737) of Ipswich, Massachusetts. Eighteenth-century doctors often supported themselves through the sale of drugs and herbs, rather than through advice or services; the jobs of apothecary and doctor did not separate until the early 1800s. The bookcase/desk combination was still a relatively new form in the 1700s, and this chest, imitating that form, with its multiple drawers and brass pulls would have been expensive to make. However, doctors were considered to have the same social standing as the mercantile class and lawyers, and Perkins would have seen early examples in his patients' homes. The chest has a total of twenty-seven drawers, each with drop-shaped brass pulls. The upper section has twenty-four small drawers (two groups of two short and one long drawers over two rows of five short drawers), which would have held powders, spices, herbs, etc. The lower section has three long drawers with brass escutcheons with keyholes with a slant front on the top drawer, and is supported on four flattened ball feet. It is possible that the two sections were made at different times and joined later. The ball feet have been replaced after the originals rotted because of flood damage. Some of the paint on the drawers has been touched up and repainted with buttermilk paint to match the old paint.
Subjects:
Brass Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2042 |
