Case and Bottles

Date1770-1815

MediumOak, pine, iron, and glass

DimensionsOH: 10 3/8"; OW: 15 7/8"; OD: 10 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1964-265,1-12

DescriptionCase and Bottles. (1: Case; 2-12: Bottles) Plain, rectangular box top with initials "D Mc" in black paint. Top glued and pinned to sides of box top; reinforced by angle iron: 2 at front and 2 in back and 1 at either side. Corners reinforced with iron corner braces extending to base of lid. Hinged at back by means of exposed strap hinges. Exposed wrought iron strap lock of tear-drop design in front. Interior of chest with three compartments at either side measuring approximately 3" x 4 1/8"; 3 large compartments in center measuring approximately 3" x 6". Corners of chest, like corners of top, with iron corner braces extending to base. Plain base butted and nailed to sides; reinforced with angle irons: 2 at front, 2 at rear, and 1 at either side. Wrought iron handles with twist in center at either side of chest; plain round back plates.

Woods: Oak; pine (bottom and compartments).
Inscribed"D Mc" in black paint on lid.
ProvenancePossibly descended in the Glen Sanders family of New York. Four possibilities, however remote, do occur: (1) Jane Livingston's mother was Elizabeth McKinstry. Jane married John Sanders III in 1826. Perhaps the chest came from her family, and passed down from John III to the later Sanders. (2) Jacob Beekman married Ann McKinney in 1784. Jacob's mother was Maria Sanders (who married Charles P. Sanders, Jr., from whose son's wife the Glen-Sanders collection was acquired in the 1960's. It is possible that this chest came through Anna's great-great grandmother. (3) The trade card, Xeroxed below, informs us of the activity of the merchant firm of McMichael and Duane, who may have used the cypher "D Mc." The trade card was found with other chattels and mss. in the Glen-Sanders collection; could have been owned by any number of the clan living in 1821. (4) More likely, however, is the possibility that the "D Mc" refers to Duncan McLeod who wrote to John Sanders III from Albany in 1826. Apparently they were friends. Margery McLeod was a witness to the will of Peter Sanders (1845).