Description:
Bonnet-top high chest made of cherry with white pine and butternut used as secondary woods. The brasses, finials and drop pendants are original. The carved pilasters have a stippled ground and repetitive horizontal vine motif. At least three high chests with similarly carved pilasters are known: one in the collection of Historic Deerfield, one sold at Christie's, October 8, 1997, and another in an unknown collection (see Antiques 32, no. 6 (December 1937), p. 188). Its formal architectural order, shaped bonnet, blocked facade, upper case pilasters, flat arch apron, and shell motif relate it to a group of case pieces from central Connecticut and eastern Massachusetts (see HD Magazine) that suggest the maker was trained in the Boston or Salem area. High chest of drawers composed of two cases; the lower one with two tiers of drawers, the bottom one comprised of three drawers, the center one with a carved fan, above a flat indented skirt with pendants, all supported with four cabriole legs terminating in pad feet; the upper case highlighted with distinctive vine-carved pilasters flanking five tiers of drawers, the upper one composed of three drawers, the central one with a carved fan, the flanking ones with drawer facades sawn to conform to the shape of the scrolled pediment, which is fitted with three ball-and-flame finials. The high chest of drawers is significant because of its condition, its descent in the family of Sophia Smith who founded Smith College, and its illustration of the most urbane furniture made in western Massachusetts before the Revolution. These objects often have histories of ownership in the Springfield area.
Label Text:
In the 1770s, a cabinetmaker working in Springfield or Northampton produced high chests featuring carved shells with projecting rims and distinctive vine-carved pilasters applied to the front edges of their upper cases. This vine-carving re-interprets a popular motif in western Massachusetts: the undulating vine is seen on gravestones, doorways, embroidered textiles and carved oak chests made in the seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. This high chest with vine-carved pilasters deviates slightly from the formulaic furniture of the Springfield-Northampton shop that introduced the motif in the second half of the eighteenth century, indicating that an outlying cabinetmaker copied the idea.
Pilasters carved with a relief-carved abstract vine motif on stippled background are glued to the edges of the upper case in place of customary fluted pilasters. The protruding edges of the carved shells were formed by removing the surrounding wood from the drawer faces.
Original owner:
By tradition, Oliver Smith (1766-1845) of Hatfield first owned this high chest and bequeathed it to his niece, Sophia Smith (1796-1870), founder of Smith College. As Oliver would have been a young man at the time this chest was made it is possible that Sophia Smith’s parents, Lois (White) Smith (1769-1824?) and Joseph Smith (1758-1836) of Hatfield acquired it at the time of their marriage in 1789.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+94.002 |
