Chest of Drawers

Object Name:

Chest of Drawers

Object ID:

1975.033

Creator:

Parker, Robert (1797-1844)Cabinetmaker

Place of Origin:

Bedford, NH

Date:

circa 1820

Description:

Chest of drawers, bow front. Made by Robert Parker (1797-1844), Bedford, NH. Sheraton style. Bow front with engaged three-quarter round colonnettes at front corners and engaged half-round colonnettes at rear corners. Colonnettes are reeded for most of their length with turned, punched and carved elements above and ring turnings below. Carved decoration, large spear-shaped water-leaf motifs alternating with less deeply carved acanthus and geometric designs. Top of each reed also carved in foliate design. Four graduated drawers edged with cock beads. Top has circular projections above colonnettes. Scrolled crest at back, having two opposed volutes at each end. Four vase turned legs with ring-turned anklets above ball feet. Legs are extensions below the case of the engaged colonnettes. Molded edging at bottom of case which appears continuous with ring turnings at bottom of colonnettes. Two stamped brass knobs and an oval stamped brass escutcheon on each drawer. Pair of annulets at widest point on each leg. Curly maple, cherry, and mahogany veneer with maple and pine secondary wood. Top, ends, crest and drawer bottoms, maple; turned elements and drawer surrounds cherry; drawer fronts veneered and edged with mahogany; applied molding at bottom mahogany on front; birch at ends. Full bottom board. Drawers numbered on backs. Steel lock on each of three upper drawers; lowermost escutcheon "blind". Top made of two boards. Printed paper label inside right end of top drawer: "Robert Parker / Cabinet and Chair Maker, / Bedford, N.H." Backs of drawer fronts are painted red and have a single lamination near top. Rear legs laminated vertically. Chrome-plated steel button bottom of each foot. Circular-sawn clapboard forming part of present bottom, which may originally have been a partial bottom. Evidence of former red stain.

Material:

Maple
Cherry
Mahogany
Pine
Birch
Brass

Dimensions:

H-48.125 W-43.625 D-21.75 inches

Provenance:

Purchased from Garth's Auction Barn, Ohio, May 17, 1975, with funds donated by The W. N. Banks Foundation, Temple, NH. Formerly in the collection of Esther Bosworth, Plymouth, Indiana, from late 1960s to 1975. Dr. Harlan Angier of Northbrook, MA, owned it before the late 1960s.

Credit Line:

Gift of The W. N. Banks Foundation

People:

Parker, Robert (1797-1844), Bosworth, Esther (c.1901-1974), Angier, Harlan (c.1891-1979)