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Maker(s):White, Cotton (attributed)
Culture:American (ca. 1774-1826)
Title:chest-on-chest
Date Made:ca. 1795
Type:Furniture
Materials:wood: cherry, white pine, yellow-poplar, maple (possibly); base metal: brass
Place Made:United States; Massachusetts; Hatfield
Measurements:overall: 81 x 39 3/4 x 21 in.; 205.74 x 100.965 cm
Accession Number:  HD 54.175
Museum Collection:  Historic Deerfield
1954-175t.jpg

Description:
Cherry chest-on-chest with white pine used as secondary wood attributed to Cotton White (ca. 1774-1826) of Hatfield, Massachusetts. The work on this chest matches that of the secretary (1232), both of which descended in the Billings family of Deerfield and Hatfield. White's surviving work is represented by large pieces of case furniture made for wealthy patrons in western Massachusetts at the end of the eighteenth century. White's signature and the date "1795" were found on a clock case for a clock by Isaac Gere (1771-1812) of Northampton, Massachusetts. This documents White's lattice-work inlay, carved columns and feet, and a dove-like finial. The upper case has an elaborately carved cornice containing a frieze of Gothic arches/fretwork topped by delicate beading and dentils, all surmounted by an egg-and-dart molding. There are reeded pilasters on the canted corners, ending in zig-zag or herringbone inlaid stringing. There are five graduated drawers, surrounded by beaded edges. There is a mid-molding over the lower case, with four graduated drawers with the same beaded edges. There is a small inlaid band, reflecting the inlay on the upper case, above the four molded bracket feet with molded edges. The chest has been refinished; the brasses are not original, and only the top three escutcheons have key holes. The drawer backs are yellow-poplar, and the inlay is possibly maple, with the darker sections dyed (the light and dark inlays appear to be made from the same wood).

Label Text:
Cotton White, the son of David White (1748-ca. 1778) and Roxcellany Warner White (b. 1750?) of Hatfield, owned a blacksmith and a cabinet shop on Hatfield’s Main Street, several doors down from the joiner Samuel Partridge (1730-1809). Apparently skilled in both trades, White applied his metalsmithing and woodworking knowledge to furniture making. The inventory taken after his death in 1826 lists several patents for woodworking devices, including a 1813 patent for “a machine for making wheels” and a 1824 patent for “a new and useful improvement in the Turning lath” for turning broom handles. He also owned a waterwheel shaft, cog wheels, leather bands, frames and pulleys, grindstones and a buzz saw.

White crafted ambitious furniture for wealthy patrons in western Massachusetts at the end of the eighteenth century. He followed old-fashioned Rococo, or Chippendale, style design principles, incorporating decorative elements popular since the 1730s such as carved, scrolled bracket feet, chamfered sides with lambs-tongue stops and deep cornice moldings. He updated his design with Classical details such as herringbone inlays and Gothic fretwork. The result, a blending of old and new, offered a bold statement of confidence about the future of rural society. Bands of diagonal light-and-dark inlay above the feet visually link the bottom of the case with the herringbone inlays at the bottom of the chamfered edges of the upper case. The cornice moldings are carved with dentils and egg-and-dart motifs above a blind frieze of interlaced gothic arches.

The attribution of this chest-on-chest to White is based on a clock case (privately owned), decorated with similar herringbone inlay that White signed and dated 1795.

Original owner:
Descended in the Billings family of Deerfield and Hatfield, this chest-on-chest may have been made for Mabel Dickinson (1776-1841) upon her marriage around the year 1797 to Samuel Partridge, Jr. (1775-1856). Mabel Dickinson Partridge and Samuel Patridge’s daughter, Hepzibah Partridge (1797-1865) married Hatfield resident Israel Williams Billings (1784-1856) in 1816. From thence it may have descended lineally to Louisa Hubbard Billings (1862-1949) of Deerfield.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+54.175

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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