image of object
Photo: Courtesy Ralph Carpenter Papers, Joseph Downs Manuscript Library, Winterthur Museum and Country Estate, Del.
Click the image to enlarge

Chest of drawers

Object number

RIF318

Maker

Maker Unknown

Dimensions

31 × 37 × 13 1/4 in. (78.74 × 93.98 × 33.655 cm)

Date

1760–80

Current location

Unknown

Geography

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

Medium

Mahogany (primary); pine (bottom board)

Marks

Unknown

Inscriptions

Unknown

Style

Chippendale

Provenance

Unknown

Construction

The two-piece horizontal backboard has a rabbet cut in the lower board to which the upper board butts; the boards are nailed to rabbets in the sides and top and to the back edge of the case bottom. The subtop below the folding top is dovetailed to the case sides and has slots cut in it to house the slides that support the upper leaf of the top. The lower leaf is nailed to the subtop. The feet are reinforced with quarter-round vertical blocks that rest on horizontal blocks mitered together at the corners. The brackets on the rear legs have an angular shape on their inner surfaces. They are nailed to the underside of the case and fit in slots in the side rear feet. The backs of the rear feet overhang the rear brackets slightly. The base moldings between the feet are nailed to the case from the underside.