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2019-71, Blanket Chest
Blanket Chest on stand with drawers
2019-71, Blanket Chest

Blanket Chest on stand with drawers

Date1790-1820
OriginAmerica, Tennessee, Greene County
MediumBlack walnut, tulip poplar, and iron
DimensionsOH: 34 1/4 in.; OW: 45 5/8 in.; OD: 20 1/8 in.
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, TIF Foundation in memory of Michelle A. Iverson
Object number2019-71
DescriptionDovetailed blanket chest with iron strap hinged lid; top has rounded edges and tongue and groove through tenoned batten ends; no till inside; coved waist molding over mortise and tenoned stand with thumbnail lipped two drawers each with one brass bail and rosette pull (replaced) in center of each drawer; boldly shaped front skirt and scalloped side skirts; stiles of lower section continue to the floor as feet.
Label TextBlanket chests were ubiquitous forms in 18th and early 19th century households. Used for storage, these pieces could hold large as well as small items. This example was produced as a chest on top of (and attached to) a stand with two drawers. While many chests incorporated drawers into their own cases, this example and a group of other Tennessee examples did not. 18th century English and Irish versions of the chest on stand form exist, but there are very few 18th century American ones. In Tennessee, the form was prevalent especially among sugar chests, a smaller chest on stand specifically used for the storage of that costly commodity. Whether or not the sugar chest, predominantly found in Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina, influenced the larger version of the chest on stand is unknown, but the presence of this form in the same region where sugar chests were popular cannot be ignored.

Many pieces of East Tennessee furniture have very shapely skirts. This example has complex, decorative scrolls along its bottom edge.
ProvenancePurchased from a Greeneville family (possibly Widow Bales home in the Camp Creek area of Greene County per MESDA S-13003 and 13002); The estate of Thomas W. Jack and Dr. Frances Bernard Overall, Greeneville, TN.