White pine blanket chest painted reddish brown with red undercoat. Simulated drawers. Two dovetailed "true" drawers beneath chest with fals drawer fronts. Hinged top with molding. Original brasses. Chest rests on tall bracket feet.
blanket chests
case furniture
eastern white pine (wood)
Chest, Blanket
A combination of old and new craftsmanship techniques defines this red-painted chest, produced about 1735-1755. The southeastern Massachusetts piece contains only two real drawers beneath a traditional chest. Extra moldings and brasses added by its craftsman create the illusion of four drawers. Despite the dovetailed corners in the chest's real drawers, the case itself reveals the archaic method of nailed board construction. The construction of the bracket feet, made by extending the sideboards to the floor, mitered to front elements that are notched into the bottom, is equally archaic. According to eighteenth-century convention, craftsmen typically glued feet to the base of case furniture pieces. . Although the chest's exterior follows decorative standards of fashionable early eighteenth-century furniture, its maker used outdated techniques to produce it.
Unknown
MA, Southeastern MA; RI
42 1/3 x 37 1/16 x 16 7/8 (HxWxD) (inches)
1958.57
Massachusetts (United States)
Rhode Island (United States)
Possibly Massachusetts (United States)
Possibly Rhode Island (United States)
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