Description:
Red-painted six-board, nailed chest with a till against the right interior and ornamented with incised moldings including a horizontal molded mid-profile on the front board, old red painted geometric and floral patterns, beaded and gouged decoration, and applied sawn brackets. In the first century of New England settlement, textiles formed the largest investment in household furnishings. Chests were a necessity for the storage of blankets and rugs, bed and table linens, and clothing. The simplest were these six-board chests nailed together with a hinged lid, many of which were made in the Connecticut River Valley. This chest descended from the Rockwell family of Windsor, Connecticut, from Josiah Rockwell (1678-1742), son of Samuel Rockwell Sr. (1631-1711), a cooper who learned the trade from is uncle and master, John Rockwell (1588-1662). Josiah Rockwell probably comissioned this board chest from his cousin, joiner John Rockwell Jr. (1663-1746) who learned the trade from his father, joiner John Rockwell Sr. (1627-1673). This chest has is a zig-zag pattern in the upper right of the front board; examination of the surface under ultraviolet light has revealed a semi-circular pattern at the bottom of that board and two rows of stylized flowers flanking the horizontal creased molding. The chest is constructed with rebated front and back pine boards, an oak baseboard housed in grooves in the vertical end boards, and wood cleats beneath the ends of the top board. The joins are fastened with rose-headed wrought nails. The oak lid is hinged with a pair of iron snipe hinges and lock retainer; the chest is supported on sawn legs extended from the side boards.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1999.9 |
