Images(4)

High chest of drawers

Date1760-1790

Possibly by Isaac Tryon (1748 - 1823)

OriginAmerica, Connecticut, Glastonbury or Middletown

MediumCherry, white pine, and tulip poplar

DimensionsOH: 7' 2"; OW: 40 1/8"; OD: 20 1/4"

Credit LineBequest of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hennage

Object number1991-62

DescriptionAppearance: High chest of drawers: the upper case has an enclosed broken scroll pediment and three urn and twisted corkscrew finials. Between the scrolls of the pediment, the tympanum rises upward to form a plinth which has a central sunburst carving and supports the central finial. Upper case has three short drawers, the central one with a fan carving, over four graduated long drawers, all with thumbnail molding. The lower case has one long drawer over three short drawers, the central one with a fan carving. All long drawers have matching pairs of drawer pulls and escutcheons with solid shaped backplates; small drawers have single matching drawer pulls; shell drawers have single round brass pulls. The front and each side skirt have complex ogee shaping. The piece rests on high cabriole legs with pad feet.

Construction:
Upper case: bottom board half blind dovetailed to sides; horizontal top board probably in sliding dovetail (possibly dado) in sides; tympanum board in dovetail in case sides and nailed to the front edge of the horizontal top board; inner hood sides in dado or sliding dovetail in top of horizontal top board, in dado in rear of tympanum, and in dado in backboard and nailed from back to same; wide board with molded lower edge nailed across top portions of inner hood sides; one piece cornice molding glued and nailed to sides at top and to scroll of tympanum board; mitered short cornice molding returns on inner portion of scrolls backed by a rectangular block that is attached to inner hood sides, possibly nailed from inside hood; thin hood top boards nailed top edges of case side, back, tympanum, and inner hood sides, and glued to top of rectangular blocks with inner cornice molding returns; horizontal tongue and groove backboards nailed to rear edge of bottom and in rabbets in sides; tympanum central plinth backed by board of same general shape through tenoned into horizontal top board; shaped edge top to plinth nailed to top of tympanum and backer plinth boards; square plinths with square tops with shaped edges attached to front corners of hood top; finials round tenoned to plinths.

Drawer blades in exposed dovetails in case sides; vertical drawer dividers dovetailed to tympanum and to drawer blade and drawer support behind it; side drawer supports nailed to case sides; rear drawer support at top level of drawers in dado or sliding dovetail in sides; central drawer supports for top level of drawers tenoned into rear of drawer blade and rear drawer support; central drawer guide nailed to top of rear drawer support and central drawer support; central medial rail at 3rd drawer level half lapped and nailed to center of side drawer supports.

Lower Case: back, sides, and lower front rail tenoned and pegged to tops of legs; horizontal top rail tenoned or dovetailed into top of leg and notched around leg; drawer blade dovetailed to legs; vertical drawer dividers dovetailed drawer blade and lower rail and drawer support behind; drawer supports half lapped over back edge of lower rail and tenoned into case backboard; bottom drawer guides nailed to case sides between side and drawer support; top drawer guides notched around top rail and nailed to case sides near top; central drawer guides nailed to top of drawer supports; mid molding nailed to top of case frame; knee blocks nailed to underside of skirt and side of legs.

Drawers have standard dovetail construction; bottom boards oriented front to back on small drawers and side to side on large drawers; bottoms chamfered on front and sides and in dados in same and nailed to underside of back; top edges of sides rounded.
Label TextThis elegant high chest was a 1965 gift from Joe Hennage to his wife, June. It was their first piece of American furniture. The dealer who sold it offered to buy it back several times and at higher prices, but June declined to sell. She felt she could never acquire another high chest as beautiful as this one.

This chest exemplifies the sleek, vertical lines and carved fans seen on furniture made in the Connecticut River Valley. A nearly identical carved shell appears on a chest signed by Glastonbury cabinetmaker Isaac Tryon. Artisans in Middletown produced similar goods.
InscribedInscribed on inside of top case bottom board, proper left side at front "Right.....[indecipherable words].
Chalk marks on inner faces of vertical drawer dividers in lower case.
ProvenanceThis high chest was owned by Irving Olds, President of U.S. Steel, and sold to Harold Sack.
Donors purchased from Israel Sack, In in 1965.

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