image of object
Photo: Courtesy Northeast Auctions, Hampton and Portsmouth, N.H.
Click the image to enlarge

Chest of drawers

Object number

RIF1124

Maker

Maker Unknown

Dimensions

34 1/2 × 36 × 20 in. (87.63 × 91.44 × 50.8 cm)

Date

1700–1720

Current location

Unknown

Geography

Possibly made in Rhode Island
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Pine

Marks

Unknown

Inscriptions

Unknown

Provenance

By descent in the Palmer collection. Bill Putnam, Ashland, New Hampshire. Roger Bacon (died 1982), Exeter, New Hampshire; sold to Horton Foote (1916–2009), Wharton, Texas, and New York; consigned to Northeast Auctions, Hampton and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 6, 2005, lot 633.

Associated names

Palmer Collection
Bill Putnam
Roger Bacon
Northeast Auctions
Horton Foote

Construction

The two-piece top is nailed to the back board from the top. The drawer supports are lapped into wide drawer dividers at the front and extend through the back of the case. The drawer sides are attached to the drawer front and back with two large dovetails; the drawer bottom is nailed to the drawer sides; the drawer fronts are one inch higher than the sides. The two-piece horizontal back boards are nailed to rabbets in the case sides and rest on the bottom board. The turned feet come through the bottom board and are wedged from the top. The front base molding is run in the front edge of the bottom board and the side moldings are nailed to the case sides. Examined by Mia Taradash, August 5 , 2005.

Bibliography

Northeast Auctions, Portsmouth, N.H., Horton Foote Collection of American Folk Art, sale cat. (August 6, 2005), 29, lot 633, ill.