Images(2)

Chest of Drawers

Dateca. 1820

Probably by Charles Beale

Probably by Dennis Delany

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Norfolk

MediumMahogany, yellow pin, tulip poplar, and sweet gum

DimensionsOH: 41"; OW: 41 7/8"; OD: 20 1/4"

Credit LineGift of William A. Gwaltney in memory of Doris Gwaltney

Object number2022-69

DescriptionChest of drawers with three wide, deep drawers over two long drawers; rectangular top with rounded applied molding on edge; drawers mahogany veneered with mahogany cock beading; deep drawers each have one centered single post drawer pull (wooden knob, replaced) and inset brass escutcheon; long drawers have two single post drawer pulls (wooden knob, replaced) and inset brass escutcheons; applied band (replaced) around base serves as base molding; four applied turned feet with block at top, round portion over deep cove molding, wide flare below cove molding tapers to heavy ring molding above cove and ball foot; paneled sides. Sweet gum identified by microscopy by Chris Swan in chest stiles.
Label TextThis chest of drawers was likely originally owned by Dr. John Hyndman Purdie (1770-1845) and wife Anne Merritt Moore Purdie of Smithfield, Virginia, through whom other Purdie furniture and portraits in the CW collection descended (2016-89 – 2016-95). Son of Smithfield merchant George Purdie and his wife Mary Robinson Purdie, John Hyndman Purdie attended Princeton University and studied medicine at the University of Glasgow in Scotland before returning to practice in Smithfield. While the Purdies flourished in the small port town of Smithfield on the James River, most fine furniture purchased by the elite inhabitants of the town in the 19th century was likely produced in Norfolk. Goods purchased in Norfolk where there was a large cabinetmaking community in the early 19th century were easily shipped up the James River to Smithfield.

This chest is stylistically similar to examples produced in Norfolk around 1820 and has construction features that closely relate to a chest of drawers from there signed by the cabinetmakers Beale and Delany, likely Charles L. Beale (1776-1826) and Dennis Delany. The overall form of this chest, however, with the three deep top drawers is very unusual. Deep bonnet or cap drawers date back to Thomas Sheraton’s designs where Sheraton in 1791 wrote that such a deep drawer in a lady’s dressing table was suitable for storage of caps. Chest of drawers from the 1810s-1830s made around New York and New England often had a single large deep top drawer which sometimes was used as a secretary but in many instances remained a drawer. Some deep drawers also appeared in furniture forms described as sideboards (2001-807) or in chests of drawers that also had narrow drawers for bottles (1964-498). Without documentation for the Purdie chest, we cannot be sure how it was originally used.
ProvenanceProbably originally owned by Dr. John Hyndman Purdie (1770-1845) and wife Anne Merritt Moore Purdie of Smithfield. Descended to their son Dr. John Robinson Purdie (1809-1898) and wife Martha Ann Smith Purdie (1806-1853) of Smithfield; to son Thomas Smith Purdie (1853-1923) and wife Emily Atkinson Purdie (b. 1860) of Norfolk, Virginia; to son Kenneth Sinclair Purdie (1892-1983) of Norfolk and Lexington, Virginia; to 3rd-cousin-once-removed Doris Horne Gwaltney (1932-2021), wife of donor, of Smithfield, Virginia.