Description:
Joined frame-and-panel chest with a three-panel facade over two side-hung drawers. The entire facade is carved in the "Hadley chest" tradition with shallow, repetitious tulip-and-leaf motifs. The front center panel also features the initials "MH." The sides are framed to contain four panels; the back of the chest contains 2 panels. A backboard is nailed over the lower back opening. The drawer fronts extend beyond the sides and are mitered to fit against the beveled edges of the stiles. The drawer sides are attached to the drawer fronts with a single large dovetail. The drawer backs are nailed to the drawer sides. The drawer bottoms are also nailed into place and are each composed of a single board. The lid of the chest is composed of a single board with molded front and side edges, and is secured to the chest with two cotter pin hinges. The underside of the lid contains two cleats at opposite ends of the board, and a third cleat at the center securing a crack. The initials "MH" on the front center panel of the chest may be those of Miriam Hovey (1689-1713), daughter of Lt. Thomas Hovey (1648-1739) and Sarah Cook (b. 1662), of Hadley, Massachusetts. She was born August 27, 1689 at Hadley, and married Benjamin Church (1680-1755) at Hadley on January 13, 1709. Miriam was the mother of 2 children, who were both born in Hadley: Benjamin (b. 1709), and Meriam (b. 1712). The chest was likely constructed around the time of Miriam's marriage in 1709. Miriam's mother, Sarah Cook Hovey, was the granddaughter of Aaron Cook, Jr., of Windsor and Hadley, and the daughter of Aaron Cook III. The former (and possibly the latter) was an important joiner who worked prior to the time of Hadley chests, but who was the probable master of joiners who advanced the tradition of the Hadley chest and other joinery in western Massachusetts. This two drawer chest is a rarer model among extant Hadley chests, and survives in a high state of originality with its paint chronology intact.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2020.22 |
