Images(12)

Blanket Chest

Date1792

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Shenandoah County

MediumBlack walnut, yellow pine, iron, and sulfur (identified by SEM-EDS)

DimensionsOverall: 27 × 49 3/4 × 22 3/4in. (68.6 × 126.4 × 57.8cm)

Credit LineGift of Fletcher Wright

Object number2022-19

DescriptionDovetailed blanket chest with exposed dovetails and hinged lid with iron strap hinges; interior of chest has a hinged till on the proper right end of chest; till front raises revealing secret cavity under till bottom board; chest lid has a cove molding pegged to edges of top front and sides; rounded waist molding around front and sides of chest over two side by side drawers with thumbnail molded edges and single brass pulls on each drawer; ogee base molding around front and sides of chest; tapered turned feet doweled into blocks and chest bottom board.
Label TextThis chest, with its inlaid tulips flanking the original owner’s name and the year the chest was made, was produced by the same unidentified hand as that which made the John Siron chest 1994-51 in the CWF collection. Both chests exhibit identical construction features and inlaid sulfur ornament but they also demonstrate the variation available from a shop: blanket chest vs blanket chest over drawers; a till with secret compartment; bracket feet vs turned feet; and the use of English (mad[e]) vs German word (gemachts). Based on their dates, the chests were made almost one year apart in April of 1792 and 1793.

Sulfur inlay appears in late-18th century furniture primarily made and owned by Germanic families of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania as well as in a handful of instances in the Valley of Virginia, North Carolina, and Louisiana. While the natural color of sulfur is yellow, it quickly lightens to an off-white after being inlaid into wooden substrates. The element may have been chosen as a substitute for other white colored materials traditionally found inlaid into European furniture. Gunsmiths, blacksmiths, and stone carvers woud have had regular access to sulfur in America and the use of the material for inlaid decoration may suggest a possible connection between individuals in those fields and furniture makers.

Cadarina Dieder, the owner of this chest, was likely a single woman of that name (transcribed as Catherine Teter) who lived in Shenandoah County, Virginia until her death in 1837 at around the age of 57-66. She left her posessions including this chest to a neighbor, blacksmith Jacob Rodeffer. The interwoven nature of families within the Germanic community of Shenandoah County suggests that members of the Rodeffer/Rodeheffer, Wilkins, and Graybill families may have been involved in the production of the few known sulfur inlaid chests owned there.
InscribedFront of chest inscribed: CADARINA DIEDER / GEMACHTS ABRIL / ANO 1792 with incised tulips flanking inscription; inscription and tulips originally inlaid with sulfur or putty mixture.