Description:
Chest-on-chest-on-frame in cherry with white pine used as a secondary wood. It was made at considerable expense by Jonathan Smith, Jr. (1770-1840?), a house joiner in Conway, for the 1803 marriage of Lydia Batchelder (1776-1847), the daughter of John Batchelder of Conway, and Simon DeWolf (1776-1863) who lived at the Nook in West Deerfield. The chest descended to Almon's son, Austin DeWolf (b.1838) who practiced law in Greenfield until he "removed west" (Marion, Indiana), and then may have passed to his second cousin, John DeWolf (b. 1840). There is a graphite inscription on the top board of the lower case: "John G. DeWolf Boston, Mass." The chest was later owned by Austin's son, John Oviatt DeWolf (1870-1932) of Winchester, Massachusetts, then by his wife, Anna Sprague Frothingham DeWolf; and then apparently to Edgar S. DeWolf (d. 1955) of New York City sometime before 1935. Jonathan Smith, Jr. is probably the one by that name called "of Whateley" when he marrried Hannah Allis (1765-1845?), daughter of Julius Allis (1732-1817), in Conway on November 4, 1784; the couple apparently moved to New York State after 1820. This chest-on-chest is a major document of western Massachusetts cabinetmaking and an important illustration of Deerfield craftsmanship and conservative taste. It assumes the proportions of a Baroque Connecticut Valley doorway topped by a "scrolled head" of the type first built in the 1750s for the region's "mansion people." But the Rococo style of the chest was less fashionable in 1803 when Classicism was the rage throughout the nation. The upper case is topped by a two-tiered scrolled pediment with a dentil course surmounted by a large keystone with two keystone-like carvings at each side below two lantern-like finials; over a central drawer with a carved sunburst; over a tier of three short drawers, the central one with a carved, two-tiered shell, and four graduated long drawers, all flanked by two engaged, spiral-carved columns. The lower case has three graduated long drawers flanked by two engaged, stop-fluted columns; all supported by an independent frame of four cabriole feet, perched on short balusters and joined by deeply carved and molded rails highlighted by drilled holes. The English brasses are early replacements of the original Chippendale examples, and are identical to those on a Salem, Massachusetts, desk-and-bookcase, one of which is illustrated in "Antiques" (July 1981), p. 83, Pl. III. The rural wealth and conservatism of places like Conway, a large hilltown just west of Deerfield, were often combined in quintessential design statements like this chest-on-chest-on-frame, which asks the question, if one keystone in the pediment is wonderful, are not three even better? Both exuberant and old-fashioned when new, the chest-on-chest was originally stained to resemble dark mahogany. In designing it, Smith resisted the neoclassical taste popular in the lower Connecticut Valley since the early 1790s. The classical hardware replaced the original Georgian or rococo pulls when the chest-on-chest was relatively new. With a nod to Chinese design in the pediment, fashionable since colonial times, Smith recreated the proportions of a baroque Connecticut Valley doorway of the sort built in the 1750s for the region's trendsetters, known as the mansion people. The result was an expensive piece of furniture, built with confidence, which celebrated the design heritage of the Connecticut Valley and the DeWolfs' claim on social prominence. There is a quilt now in the collection of the Peabody Essex Musuem originally bought by Nina Little in 1954, which has the initials "LB" and "1809" within a heart and is identified as by Lydia Batchelder of Deerfield. Top drawer front is cherry and the proper right runner of the top drawer is white pine.
Label Text:
The bottom edge of the frame is decorated with what appear to be a series of small, tight spurs, achieved by drilling opposing pairs of holes in the molding.Conway, Massachusetts carpenter and joiner, Jonathan Smith (1770-1844?), made this unique chest-on-chest-on-frame for John Batchelder (1741-1818), who presented it to his daughter, Lydia Batchelder (1776-1847) when she married Simon De Wolf (1776-1863) of Deerfield in 1803.
Because at least three men named Jonathan Smith were living in Conway at the turn of the nineteenth century, the exact identity of the maker is uncertain. The “Jonathan Smith of Conway” named in the 1802 deed transferring ownership of Batchelder’s land is further identified as a “joiner & carpenter.” This Jonathan Smith was probably the son of Ephraim Smith (1737-1779) and Sarah Bigelow (1747-1782) of Grafton, Massachusetts, who were living in Conway by the time Jonathan was born. Orphaned at age 12, in 1782, Jonathan came under the legal guardianship of Conway resident, Prince Tobey. In 1786, Tobey apprenticed Jonathan to one “Abbey,” possibly carpenter and housewright Samuel Abbey, who may have contracted to finish the second meetinghouse of Amherst in 1791. Jonathan married Olive Hayward (1776-1871) of Conway in 1793. Vermont vital records indicate that a Jonathan Smith, born 1770 and husband of Olive (Hayward?) Smith, died in Wilmington, Vermont in 1844. Another intriguing clue that this Jonathan Smith is the maker lies in the fact that Lydia Batchelder’s father was, like Smith’s father, a Grafton native who moved to Conway. Perhaps he and Jonathan Smith’s parents migrated together.
Original owner: Lydia Batchelder (1776-1847) received this chest from her parents, John Batchelder (1741-1818) and Lydia Leland (1747-1811) when she married Simon DeWolf (1776-1863) of Deerfield in 1803.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+91.036 |
