Images(2)

Chest of Drawers

Date1775-1800

OriginEngland

MediumMahogany, oak, deal, and yellow pine (replaced)

DimensionsOverall: 40 × 43 1/4 × 20 1/4in. (101.6 × 109.9 × 51.4cm)

Credit LineGift of Lucy Henry

Object number2022-21

DescriptionApperance: Chest of drawers with applied molding around top; two drawers over three graduated drawers; inset drawers with cockbeaded edges; (replaced) bail and rosette drawer pulls; inset brass keyhole escutcheon on each drawer; base molding over straight bracket feet.

Construction:
The multi-board deal sides are dovetailed to the multi-board deal top and bottom boards. A mitered mahogany molding is nailed to the edges of the top along the front and sides. The case top and sides are veneered in mahogany as are the front edges of the bottom board, case sides, and drawer blades. The mahogany veneered deal top rail is tenoned to the case sides just below the top. Deal drawer guides are nailed to the underside of the top along the sides (full depth on the proper left; half depth on the proper right).
Mahogany veneered deal drawer blades are in dados in the case sides. Full depth thinner deal dust boards are chamfered on the underside along the front to fit in grooves in the rear of the drawer blades and are in the dados in the case sides. The excess space in the case side dados below the dust board is filled by thin boards, grain oriented side to side, glued to the underside of the dust boards.

The mahogany veneered deal drawer divider between the top drawers is tenoned to the underside of the top rail and double through-tenoned to the uppermost drawer blade. A replaced drawer guide is nailed to the dust board directly behind the drawer divider.
Replaced oak drawer stops are nailed to the top of the drawer blades and bottom board about 1” from the front edge.

The back is comprised of six vertical deal boards (five original) nailed with wrought nails to the back edges of the top and bottom boards and in rabbets in the case sides. The mahogany veneer of the top board extends past the rear edge of the deal top.

The mitered mahogany base molding is glued to a deal board that is attached to the underside of the case bottom at the front and sides. Short deal boards are attached across the back of the bottom board at the ends. The mitered bracket feet (3 replaced) are supported by shaped flanker blocks with triangular vertical glue blocks below. The rear bracket feet are in rabbets in the rear edge of the side brackets.

Drawers are of standard dovetail construction with solid mahogany fronts and sides, bottom, back, and medial battens of oak. Mahogany cockbeads are glued and nailed to the top and bottom edges and in rabbets in the sides of the drawer fronts. Medial battens for the three large drawer bottoms are screwed in rabbets in the underside of the drawer fronts and nailed or screwed from below to the underside of the back. Side to side drawer bottom boards are chamfered on the underside along the medial batten and rest in dados in the battens and are nailed into rabbets in the drawer front and sides and to the bottom edge of the back. Bottoms of the two smaller drawers rest in rabbets in the drawer sides and are nailed to rabbets in the front and to the underside of the back. Oak blocks are glued to the bottom along the front and replaced oak runners are glued to the bottom along the drawer sides.
Label TextThis English chest of drawers descended in the family of St. George Tucker remaining in his Williamsburg, Virginia home until the 20th century. Tucker’s many Williamsburg furniture purchases are known but his acquisition of English furniture has not been studied. Like other wealthy Williamsburg residents, Tucker would have owned a mixture of locally made and imported English furniture. In addition to this chest of drawers, an English ca. 1770 mahogany dining table descended in the family. Other locally made furniture owned by St. George Tucker are in the Colonial Williamsburg collection including clothespress 1979-5, chest of drawers 2008-21, and dining table 2000-128, 1-c.
ProvenanceDescended in the family of St. George Tucker to Janet Kimbrough, the last Tucker descendant to have lived in the Williamsburg house, and from thence to granddaughter Lucy Henry.