Chest of Drawers

DateCa. 1810

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Winchester (probably)

MediumWalnut and yellow pine

DimensionsOH: 37 5/8"; OW: 38"; OD: 21 7/8"

Credit LineBequest of Gertrude H. Peck

Object number1980-151

DescriptionAppearance: Serpentine front chest of four graduated drawers and chamfered front corners inlaid with lightwood stringing; top, which conforms to shape of front and corners, in inlaid with two bands of lightwood stringing around front and side edges; drawers cock beaded and inlaid with oval lightwood string and diamond shaped keyhole escutcheons; oval brass drawer pulls; base defined by a light and dark inlayed band on front and sides over serpentine front and side skirts and bold flaring feet; skirt and feet outlined in lightwood stringing.

Construction:
Top attached to sides with sliding dovetails; bottom board, with walnut front portion, in dados or sliding dovetails in case sides with side feet and skirt extensions of sides; front stiles forming chamfered front corners, are glued to the front edge of the case sides with segmented glue blocks reinforcing the joints; angular terminations of those front stiles at the top and bottom are separate elements glued in place; the lower terminations of the front stiles extend to form the flaring side faces of the front feet; the flaring faces of the side rear and side front feet are formed by a triangular wedge inserted into a cut in the bottom of the foot and extending up to where the flare begins, thus the outer façade of the rear flared foot is an extension of the case side as is the inner support and the outer façade of the front side foot is an extension of the lower angular front stile termination; drawer blades are in dados in the case sides and are notched around the front stiles; dust boards, thinner than drawer blades, are in thinner dadoes in the case sides and are tongue and groove joined to the rear edge of the drawer blades; glue blocks join the front stile with the case sides; drawer guides are glued to the top of the dust boards at the sides and drawer stops are nailed to the tops of the drawer blades; front skirt is glued to the underside of the bottom board and reinforced with glue blocks which also are used between the bottom board and the side skirts; flaring front facades of feet are angular blocks; thin vertical glue block behind front feet; horizontal backboards are nailed in rabbets in the case sides and to the rear edge of the bottom board; angled rear foot brackets are nailed in rabbets in the case sides (ie rear feet) and to the rear edge of the bottom board and further supported by a vertical glue block in corner of rear foot and horizontal glue block between angled rear bracket and bottom board; all feet have pads attached to their undersides.

Drawers have standard dovetail construction; side to side oriented bottom board chamfered around front and sides and in dados in same; widely spaced segmented glue to the bottom along the sides and fronts; bottom board nailed to underside of drawer back; drawer front rabbeted at sides of front with applied cock bead nailed in rabbet and nailed to top and bottom edges of front; drawer front composed of horizontally laminated yellow pine, veneered on front.
Label TextWhile craftsmen in the Shenandoah Valley produced a great deal of inlayed furniture in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, very little of it was of serpentine form. Beyond its serpentine shaping, this chest is unusual for its construction in native walnut instead of mahogany, and its stylized, hoof- like splayed feet. Several of its structural features and its yellow pine secondary wood point to a Shenandoah Valley origin, probably Winchester.
InscribedVarious inscriptions in red on the underside of the bottom board including "S W" (or "M 8") and "1 h 3 jan" or "h & gen"