Cabinet on chest, w/writing drawer

Date1760-1780

MediumMahogany, yellow pine, broadcloth

DimensionsOH: 71"; OW: 41"; OD: 22¾"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1989-50

DescriptionAppearance: Cabinet on chest with writing drawer. Upper case with molded cornice with Greek key fret, two paneled doors behind which are three rows of 8 pigeon holes each over two tiers of five small drawers flanking a central prospect door over row of three slightly larger drawers, two small drawers over three drawers inside prospect section; lower case has one drawer fitted out with a writing slide covered in original broadcloth, over two small drawers over two large graduated drawers; ogee bracket feet (early replacements); original brasses.

Construction: Cornice: The removable cornice is built around a replacement frame of white pine and poplar. The frame's mitered front corners are glued and nailed as are the butt joined rear corners. All corner joints are reinforced with vertical rectangular corner blocks. The moldings attached to the frame appear to be early and could be original. The uppermost cove molding is glued to a triangular block which is in turn glued to a rectangular board glued to the frame. The rectangular board has remnants of a previous construction with dovetail pins, perhaps from the original frame's backboard in its rear end. The Greek key molding and ogee molding below it are secured to the frame with glue and nails. Four shaped blocks are screwed to the top to hold the cornice in place.

Upper cabinet: The two-board sides are joined to the three board top with half-blind dovetails. A nailed and glued top molding is set in rabbets covers the dovetails on the sides and extends across the front edge of the top. The sides are joined to the bottom of the upper cabinet with dovetails (hidden by the mid-molding). Four horizontal butt joined backboards are nailed into rabbets in the side panels and nailed to the top and bottom boards. Both top and bottom boards are faced with butt joined and glued mahogany strips rabbeted to receive the cabinet doors. Lath strips (1 ¼"x ¼"), mitered in corners, are glued and nailed to the full length of the front and side edges on the underside of the bottom. Four pegs are set in holes in the lath that possibly extend into the bottom board. Pegs fit into matching holes in top of lower case to stabilize the cabinet. The top molding is glued and nailed to the front edge of the top board. A quarter-round mid-molding is nailed and glued into rabbets in the side boards at the base of the upper cabinet and glued and nailed to the exposed front edge of the bottom board.

The door stiles are through tenoned but not pinned. The door panels are held in rabbets with glued quarter-round moldings. Door hinges are modern.

Inside the case, the pigeon hole dividers for the 3 rows of 8 pigeon holes are dadoed into the top, sides, each other and into a mid-cabinet shelf that supports the pigeon holes and is in turn dadoed into the sides. Below the pigeon hole shelf, a second shelf is dadoed into the sides and forms the bottom of the prospect compartment. Two stiles that form the sides of the prospect compartment are dadoed into the two shelves. Drawer blades for the interior drawers are dadoed into these stiles and the case sides, with drawer dividers dadoed into the fixed shelves and drawer blades. Below the second shelf, three somewhat deeper drawers rest on the bottom board of the cabinet. All interior drawer blades and dividers are mahogany backed with yellow pine. Dust boards extend to full depth. Interior drawers are dovetailed with side to side grained drawer bottoms glued into rabbets and full length quarter-rounds glued in to reinforce the inside corner connecting the sides and bottoms of the drawers. On the proper right side, drawers 3 and 5 have stop blocks nailed in the rear corner of the case while drawer 4 has three blocks glued to the back of the dust-board under the drawer. The center bottom drawer has stop blocks glued to the bottom board behind to drawer. A modern stop block is nailed to the back of each of the other interior drawers.

Lower Chest: The butt joined three-board top is half-blind dovetailed to the sides. The top has four holes to receive pegs from the bottom of the upper case. The top, dust boards and drawer divider have butt-joined and glued exposed mahogany blades backed by yellow pine. Dust boards are set in dadoes and extend to within 2" of the backboards with the exception of the top dust board (supporting the writing drawer) which is extends to within ½" of the back, but has a 3-4" quarter-round cut-out in each back corner. The vertical divider between the two small drawers is dadoed into dust boards above and below extending back 4 ½", after which a ½' x ½" drawer guide is nailed and glued to the dust board. Stop blocks are glued in the back corners of the case behind each of the lower chest drawers. Butt joined horizontal backboards are nailed into the rabbeted case sides and flush nailed to the top and bottom. Bottom board is dovetailed into case sides. Bottom molding overlaps bottom edge of sides and is glued and nailed to three (2" - 2 ½") yellow pine boards nailed to the underside of the case bottom along the full length of the front and sides. Two additional boards (10" and 12") at either end of the back form a rectangular "frame" with a missing section in the center of the back. Each of the corners is mitered. Inside each corner, two yellow pine triangular blocks are glued to the case bottom. Oxydation evidence indicates that the original feet were supported by blocks that extended over the square formed by the triangular blocks and the corner of the "frame". This construction suggests that original corner glue blocks may have been horizontally stacked rather than vertical. The ogee feet appear to be period, but replacements, and there is no evidence regarding the original feet. The front feet consist of two ogee bracket feet mitered together and glued to a vertical glue block which in turn is glued and nailed to the earlier described "frame". Two horizontal blocks, shaped to the curves of the bracket feet, flank the vertical block. Rear feet consist of mahogany side brackets mitered to yellow pine rear brackets and glued to vertical glue blocks flanked by two horizontal blocks.

Drawers are of dovetail construction with a single yellow pine bottom board glued into rabbets in front and sides and flush nailed to the back. Full length strips of lath are glued to the bottom inside the rabbets in the front and side and act as drawer runners. The runners are flush with the bottom of the sides and fronts and obscure any possible nails from bottom board into sides.

The top drawer of the lower cabinet, the writing drawer, is similarly constructed but its back is cut down ¾" to allow operation of a sliding writing board. The sliding writing board is rabbeted on each side and fits into dadoes in rails 2" from the drawer sides that in turn are set into in ½ dovetails in the drawer front and dadoes in the drawer back. It has a mahogany front rail with two dished out handholds and is covered to within 4" of its back with apparently original felt, glued to the surface and secured at the back with rose-head nails. A notch has been cut in the front of the writing board to accommodate the door lock which is not flush with the back of the drawer front. The inside bottom of the writing drawer has a pink wash. The writing board is flanked by open compartments set between the drawer side and rails. Each side has a pencil tray and three storage compartments, all with false bottoms resting on wooden blocks and dividers set into dadoes in the drawer side and rails.
Inscribed"Duke St" on back of upper cabinet in chalk.
"BON" written in chalk on bottom of both upper cabinet and lower case.
"344" written in chalk on bottom of upper cabinet.
Matching "X" chalk marks appear on the back of both lower drawers and proper right small drawer.
"S" in chalk on top of lower chest. Faint indication of other markings as well.
In red chalk on bottoms of interior drawers: "R-1" through "R-5"; "C-1" through "C-5" and "L-1" through "L-5".
ProvenanceFlorence Maine, Ridgefield, CT.