GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Although details such as the shell carvings and distinctive banding around each drawer front suggest Boston associations, design features such as the shape of the legs and the compressed oval openings in the pediment indicate this chest was made in Essex County, Massachusetts. By the 1730s, British American towns were large and prosperous enough to support a wide variety of specialized craftsmen, some of whom had emigrated from England. Unlike their counterparts in New Spain or London, who were members of royal guilds, craftsmen in colonial British America were independent businessmen. Because there was no single stylistic capital in the British colonies, the work of these craftsmen often had strong regional characteristics.
Excerpt from
Kevin W. Tucker, DMA unpublished material, Label text (1985.B.18.A-E), 2006.
NOTES
- provenance form in TMS changed to comply with Guidelines and Procedures for Provenance Display
- Venable catalog essay and 1997 Guide to the DMA entry added as text entries
- fun facts source:
- photocopied document with no author or date in DMA Collections Records Object File (1985.B.18.A-E)
- Hawes, Douglas, "High chest of drawers," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (new Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 212.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Before d.1757: Daniel (d.1757) and Mary Burnham Staniford (d.1779), Ipswich, Massachusetts
1757-1779: Reverend Nathaniel (1701-1775) and Mary B. Staniford Rogers, Ipswich, Massachusetts
1779-d.1815: Jacob (d.1815) and Martha Rogers Treadwell (d.1780), Ipswich, Massachusetts
1815-d.1826: Nathaniel (1750-1826) and Hannah Treadwell Wade, Ispwich, Massachusetts
After 1826: Nathaniel Wade, Jr., Ipswich, Massachusetts
mid-19th century: William Foster Wade, Ipswich Massachusetts
n.d.: Nellie Wade, Ipswich, Massachusetts
early 20th century: Harry Arons, Ansonia, Connecticut
Until 1950: Israel Sack, Inc., New York, New York
1950-1985: The Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Collection, Houston, Texas
From 1985: Collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is Charles L. Venable, American Furniture in the Bybee Collection, (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, published in association with the Dallas Museum of Art, 1989), 20-21.
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FUN FACTS
- Of the many important examples of American furniture in the Bybee collection, this high chest of drawers is perhaps the finest piece, and the best documented, for its provenance is known for virtually its entire lifetime.
- Upon the death of the original owner, Daniel Staniford in 1757, this chest of drawers was among the items of greatest value in his house. Just fifty-eight years later, in the estate inventory taken after the death of Jacob Treadwell in 1815, this no-longer fashionable "Case of drawers" was valued at only $5, and along with its accompanying (now lost) "dressing base," was listed last on the inventory, indicating their probable location in an attic or storage room. Jacob Treadwell's will, written in 1805, left specific bequests to his children, but neither the chest nor the dressing table is listed. Being old and out of fashion, and consigned to an out-of-the-way room, they were probably deemed too insignificant to mention. Upon the death of its succeeding owner, Captain Nathaniel Wade, in 1826, it is valued at $3. Today this chest is considered one of the finest surviving New England Queen Anne high chests in existence.
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General Description
Although details such as the shell carvings and distinctive banding around each drawer front suggest Boston associations, design features such as the shape of the legs and the compressed oval openings in the pediment indicate this chest was made in Essex County, Massachusetts. By the 1730s, British American towns were large and prosperous enough to support a wide variety of specialized craftsmen, some of whom had emigrated from England. Unlike their counterparts in New Spain or London, who were members of royal guilds, craftsmen in colonial British America were independent businessmen. Because there was no single stylistic capital in the British colonies, the work of these craftsmen often had strong regional characteristics.
Excerpt from
Kevin W. Tucker, DMA unpublished material, Label text (1985.B.18.A-E), 2006.
Fun Facts
- Of the many important examples of American furniture in the Bybee collection, this high chest of drawers is perhaps the finest piece, and the best documented, for its provenance is known for virtually its entire lifetime.
- Upon the death of the original owner, Daniel Staniford in 1757, this chest of drawers was among the items of greatest value in his house. Just fifty-eight years later, in the estate inventory taken after the death of Jacob Treadwell in 1815, this no-longer fashionable "Case of drawers" was valued at only $5, and along with its accompanying (now lost) "dressing base," was listed last on the inventory, indicating their probable location in an attic or storage room. Jacob Treadwell's will, written in 1805, left specific bequests to his children, but neither the chest nor the dressing table is listed. Being old and out of fashion, and consigned to an out-of-the-way room, they were probably deemed too insignificant to mention. Upon the death of its succeeding owner, Captain Nathaniel Wade, in 1826, it is valued at $3. Today this chest is considered one of the finest surviving New England Queen Anne high chests in existence.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
- provenance form in TMS changed to comply with Guidelines and Procedures for Provenance Display
- Venable catalog essay and 1997 Guide to the DMA entry added as text entries
- fun facts source:
- photocopied document with no author or date in DMA Collections Records Object File (1985.B.18.A-E)
- Hawes, Douglas, "High chest of drawers," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (new Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 212.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Before d.1757: Daniel (d.1757) and Mary Burnham Staniford (d.1779), Ipswich, Massachusetts
1757-1779: Reverend Nathaniel (1701-1775) and Mary B. Staniford Rogers, Ipswich, Massachusetts
1779-d.1815: Jacob (d.1815) and Martha Rogers Treadwell (d.1780), Ipswich, Massachusetts
1815-d.1826: Nathaniel (1750-1826) and Hannah Treadwell Wade, Ispwich, Massachusetts
After 1826: Nathaniel Wade, Jr., Ipswich, Massachusetts
mid-19th century: William Foster Wade, Ipswich Massachusetts
n.d.: Nellie Wade, Ipswich, Massachusetts
early 20th century: Harry Arons, Ansonia, Connecticut
Until 1950: Israel Sack, Inc., New York, New York
1950-1985: The Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Collection, Houston, Texas
From 1985: Collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is Charles L. Venable, American Furniture in the Bybee Collection, (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, published in association with the Dallas Museum of Art, 1989), 20-21.
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