Chest of Drawers

Object Name:

Chest of Drawers

Object ID:

1944.014

Creator:

Dunlap, John (1746-1792)Cabinetmaker

Place of Origin:

Bedford, NH

Date:

1782

Description:

High Chest of Drawers. Maple and white pine. Straight front, galleried top, and 10 drawers. Elaborate cornice consisting of cove and ovolo elements. "Flowered ogee" moldings along top and bottom of latticework gallery. Carved fans at center and corners of gallery, with projecting stylized rosettes above. Four full-width drawers in upper case with a row of three narrow drawers above. Three drawers in lower case with bottom drawer simulating the appearance of three narrow drawers. Drawers in each case graduated. Scotia molding at top of lower case, which is finished at bottom with carved fans flanking a pair of molded horizontal scrolls pendant at center. Carved fan of larger scale on simulated central bottom drawer. Four cabriole legs with sharp knees, pointed brackets and claw-and-ball feet. Each drawer has molded edges. Drawers are fitted with brass handles having elaborately shaped plates and bails with bulbous centers, and matching escutcheons. Maple in skirt of curly grain.Upper flowered ogee molding of pine. Evidence of green paint on pine molding, gilding on rosettes, and red stain elsewhere. Ends of drawers stained red. Removable panels behind latticework of galleries. A steel lock on each full-width drawer in upper case; escutcheons in lower case "blind." Illegible chalk inscription inside left end of lower case. Typed label with accession information in top drawer of lower case. Large black marks on underside of bottom drawer. No bottom board in lower case.

Material:

Wood
Maple
Pine

Dimensions:

H-83.5 W-40.75 D-20.125 inches

Provenance:

The chest was variously known to the family as the "Gordon highboy" and the "Rebecca Barnet highboy." Original owner was probably Jane (Walker ) Gordon of Bedford, the daughter of Robert Walker and Rebecca Barnet. Documented as sold (via Nathan Shed) to "Jean Walker" -- assumed to be Jane Walker -- by John Dunlap and noted in his account book that this was the most expensive piece he had ever sold (126 British pounds). Dunlap's account book shows that two chests were made for the two then unmarried sisters, Jane [Jean] and Susan [Ana] Walker, in 1782. Susan (c.1757-1855) later married William Waugh, they had no children, and the whereabouts of Susan's chest is unknown.
Jane (1759-1848) later married Josiah Gordon, and Jane's chest is known to have been in the Gordon's Bedford, NH, family homestead until the 1860s, and then to Jane and Josiah Gordon's granddaughter, Martha Riddle Woodbury (1835-1909); Martha died unmarried, and left the chest to her brother's son, David Dana Woodbury (1879-1926). Shortly after David Woodbury's death, not later than 1929, his widow sold the piece to a Massachusetts antiques dealer. The chest was purchased on the Boston antiques market by Mr. and Mrs. Winthrop L. Carter of Hollis, NH. The Carters were in touch with David Woodbury's sister, Charlotte Eliza Woodbury, who told them of the chest's history. Mr. Carter -- a N.H. Historical Society trustee -- died in 1944; his widow donated the piece to NHHS in her husband's memory.

Credit Line:

Gift of Elizabeth B. Carter, in memory of Winthop L. Carter

People:

Walker, Jane (1759-1848), Barnet, Rebecca, Gordon, Jane (1759-1848), Shed, Nathan, Dunlap, John (1746-1792), Woodbury, Martha R. (1835-1909), Woodbury, David D. (1878-1926), Woodbury, Edith G. (1871-1956), Carter, Winthrop L. (1885-1944), Carter, Elizabeth B. (1884-1970)

Subjects:

Cabinetmaking, Domestic life