Blanket Chest

Details

Descriptive Terms

blanket chests
case furniture
maple (wood)
red cedar (wood)
red oak (wood)
walnut (wood)
Norway spruce (wood)
Chest
Chest, Blanket
Chest, Blanket

Label

The geometric patterns on the surface of this Boston chest were created by the use of applied red cedar moldings. Maple split spindles, painted black to resemble ebony, provide a colorful contrast with the light oak, red cedar, and black walnut also incorporated into the chest's façade. Considered a specimen of such singular craftsmanship and ornamentation, the late furniture historian Benno Forman dubbed this chest the “the most important eastern Massachusetts chest in captivity.” The chest's maker, who crafted the piece around 1635-1670 in Boston, followed the latest London fashion. Dutch craftsmen originally introduced the robust architectural style to England in the early seventeenth century. When London-based joiners influenced by the Dutch style immigrated to Boston, they brought their knowledge of urban furniture trends to the New World.

Maker

Unknown

Location of Origin

MA

Dimensions

26 1/8 x 47 5/8 x 21 1/2 (HxWxD) (inches)

Credit Line

Museum purchase

Accession Number

1940.55

Reference Notes

Jobe, Brock and Myrna Kaye. New England Furniture: The Colonial Era. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984.

Places

Massachusetts (United States)
Boston (Suffolk county, Massachusetts)