Chest of Drawers
- Object Name:
- Chest of Drawers
- Object ID:
- 1971.025
- Creator:
- Dow, Samuel (1755-1835) -- Cabinetmaker
- Place of Origin:
- Stoddard, NH
- Date:
- circa 1820
- Description:
- Chest of drawers, bow front. Made by Samuel Dow (1755-1835), Stoddard, NH; c. 1820. Elliptical front with engaged three-quarter round colonnettes at front corners are spirally turned, with ring and bulbous turnings above and ring turnings below. Four graduated drawers, edged with cockbeads. A turned cap applied to the top of each colonnette and projecting slightly above top of case. Four turned legs with ring, cylindrical and bulbous elements--those at front being extensions, below the case, of the engaged colonnettes. Scrolled crest at back having both volutes decorated with applied, stamped brass rosettes. Two wooden knobs on each drawer; rectangular stamped brass escutcheon with incurved corners on top two drawers. Legs, turned colonnettes, crest and drawer knobs of solid mahogany. Remainder veneered; thickness of veneers varying. Round edging applied to top--the strips at right end being loose. Drawers laminated at front. Partial bottom board; no dust boards. Drawers numbered on back. Steel locks except on bottom drawer. The drawers have dove-tail construction. There are signs of a red wash or stain.
Pencil inscription on underside of top board reads: "REPAIRED / [RE]FINISHED / BY E. E. ROBINSON / JAN 24 55 / CONCORD NH". Near this inscription is repairer's business card, tacked to the wood, "Robbie's Furniture Service / 80 South Main St. / Concord, NH". Pencil inscription "Fammy" on underside of third drawer. - Material:
- Mahogany
- Dimensions:
- H-45.375 W-40 D-19 inches
- Provenance:
- Family history is that Samuel Dow (1755-1835) of Stoddard, NH, made a bed, chairs, and chest of drawers (1971.25) for his daughter Sophia (1800-1885) as a wedding gift (married Samuel Smith, 1819). The furniture stayed with Sophia throughout her life, including the 30+ years that she lived with her youngest living son, Charles Smith (1832-1894) in Londonderry, Windham, and Nashua, NH. After being stored by Charles, "grandmother's things" went to Mary Abbie Smith Chase (1869-1942), eldest daughter of Charles Smith; there is a notation that she did not take the bed, "a plain thing." She did take the chairs, and there is a letter where she describes covering the "dull red" paint with "that sticky black paint". Her eldest daughter, Mildred E. Chase (Flanders) Armstrong (1896-1994) wanted the furniture, and bartered the chest of drawers from her mother for jellies and canned goods (receipt dated Nov. 2, 1927). Mildred had the chest of drawers in her Concord, NH, home, which she converted to a youth hostel in 1940, when a patron, "trained expert in cabinetmaking and heirlooms, spotted the bureau as the only one in his experience with its combination of influences." In 1971, while living with her daughter in Vermont, Mildred solicited the assistance of her younger brother Howard N. Chase of Concord, NH, to find an appropriate museum for the chest of drawers. The NHHS purchased the chest.
- Credit Line:
- New Hampshire Historical Society Purchase
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