image of object
Photo: Courtesy Christie's, New York
Click the image to enlarge

High chest of drawers

Object number

RIF3002

Maker

Maker Unknown

Dimensions

81 1/2 × 38 1/2 × 21 3/4 in. (207.01 × 97.79 × 55.245 cm)

Date

1750–70

Current location

Geography

Made in Newport, Rhode Island
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Walnut (primary); birch or butternut(?) (drawer linings and guides on exterior bottom of upper case); pine (top of upper case, drawer supports of upper case, blocks at interior bottom of upper case, upper case bottom, top and back of pediment, lower case backboards, and drawer supports and guides of lower case); chestnut (central support for upper drawers, horizontal brace at interior back of upper case, upper case back boards, and backing of shell); oak (vertical upright at back of pediment)

Marks

None

Inscriptions

Upper case: “1,” in chalk, on exterior sides [at front] of proper-right upper drawer; “2,” in chalk, on exterior sides [at front] and back of proper-left upper drawer; “3” through “5,” in chalk, on exterior sides [at front] and backs of long drawer [top to bottom]; “THE MEYER / [image of eagle] / COLLECTION,” printed in gold on a black label glued to proper-right interior side of lower drawer; “V [pointing towards front],” in chalk, on interior of upper case top; illegible chalk, on exterior back of upper case; “3,” in chalk, on proper-left center of exterior case bottom; “4[?],” in chalk, on proper-right center of exterior case bottom Lower case: “5,” in chalk, on exterior back of upper drawer; illegible chalk, on exterior proper-left side of upper drawer; “7 mo / 12 soap,” in chalk, on exterior back of proper-right lower drawer; illegible chalk [including pound sign], on exterior proper-left side of proper-right lower drawer; mathematical figures, in chalk, on exterior proper-right side of proper-right lower drawer; “1,” in chalk, on proper-left side [at front] of proper-right lower drawer; “2,” in chalk, on exterior sides [at front] and back of lower middle drawer; “[?] / 12 mo / [?], in chalk, on proper-right side of proper-left lower drawer; “3,” in chalk, on exterior sides [at front] of proper-left lower drawer; “SOTHEBY’S / 170 / NEW YORK,” printed [“170” written in ink] on green label affixed to exterior back of lower case

Style

Queen Anne

Provenance

By descent in the Gould family, Rhode Island. Du Mouchelles Auction House, Detroit, Michigan, 1950–1960. Jess Pavey, Birmingham, Michigan; sold to Mr. and Mrs. Adolp Henry Meyer, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; consigned to Sotheby's, New York, January 20, 1996, lot 170; sold to Bridget and Alfred F. Ritter, Jr., Virginia Beach, Virginia; sold to the Wunsch Americana Foundation, Inc., New York, by 2014; consigned to Christie's, New York, January 24, 2020, lot 296

Associated names

Gould family
DuMouchelles Auction House
Jess S. Pavey
Adolph Henry Meyer
Sotheby's
Mr. Alfred F. Ritter, Jr.
Bridget Ritter
Wunsch Americana Foundation, Inc.
Christie's

Bibliography

Glenn Adamson, "Collector Profile: Make Americana Great Again, The Wunsch Family Has a Plan," Antiques 183, no. 6 (November / December 2016): 46, ill.
Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture: Early American (New York: Crown Publishers, 1993), 192, ill.
Sotheby's, New York, Important Americana: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Henry Meyer, sale cat. (January 20, 1996), lot 170, ill.
Christie's, New York, Important American Furniture, Folk Art and Silver, sale cat. (January 24, 2020), 74–76, lot 296, ill.