Images(8)

Chest of drawers

Date1805

Maker John Hockaday

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg

MediumMahogany, yellow pine, and brass

DimensionsOH: 35 1/16"; OW: 42 5/8"; OD: 20 1/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Sara and Fred Hoyt Furniture Fund

Object number2008-21

DescriptionAppearance: Mahogany chest of drawers with two pairs of equal sized drawers over two full width graduated drawers; shaped bracket feet; original octagonal stamped brasses (two bails on bottom drawer replaced).

Construction: Top is face-nailed to sides and also rests on three full width battens that are dovetailed into the sides. A series of glue blocks further secure the top to the battens. The front batten functions as the blade above the top drawers and is faced with mahogany. Drawer blades are 9" deep yellow pine dust boards faced with mahogany and set in dadoes that run the full depth of the case with a likely hidden dovetail at the front for stability. Drawer runners utilize the dustboard dadoes to run the remaining depth of the drawer and are tenoned to the rear edge of the dustboards. Drawer runners supporting the top two pairs of drawers are further tenoned to a back support to form frames that support those drawers. A 9 ½" deep drawer divider that separates both rows of top drawers is attached above and below with a dado leading into a dovetail. Divider is of yellow pine faced with mahogany. Blocks have been glued and nailed in the back corners of case behind each drawer to act as stops for the drawers. The top molding is glued and nailed directly to the front and side edges of the top board. The back is composed of two horizontal boards nailed into rabbets along the top and sides of the case. The 1 ½" base molding is glued to the edges of yellow pine battens that are in turn glued to the underside of the bottom board of the case and run the full width of the front and sides. The battens extend in 8" from each side at the rear to support the rear feet. The straight bracket feet have a butt corner joint and are glued to the undersides of the molding. Pairs of mitered horizontal blocks are glued to the moldings / battens just inside each foot. They are shaped to match the bracket faces. The feet are braced with one piece vertically grained tulip poplar glue blocks.

The drawers have scratch-beaded fronts and exhibit standard dovetailed construction. The drawer bottoms are chamfered along the front and sides, and held together with chamfered glue blocks on the front and sides and flush-nailed at the rear. There is an unusual "tongue" edge or bead on the upper edge of all drawer sides.
Label TextThis object is the "one mehogony chest of draws" that St. George Tucker of Williamsburg purchased along with "One mehogony Wardrobe" from cabinetmaker John Hockaday on June 22, 1805 for £25. The chest descended in Tucker's family to his granddaughter Elizabeth Tucker Coalter Bryan. She called it the "Old Williamsburg Bureau" and "kept it in her chamber at Eagle Point [Gloucester County, Virginia] in constant family use for the children's clothing."

While much has been learned about the cabinetmakers of Williamsburg's colonial era, not much is known about the men who practiced that craft in town after the American Revolution. This chest of drawers and the matching wardrobe or clothespress noted on Hockaday's receipt are the only two pieces of furniture that can be documented to this post-Revolutionary Williamsburg cabinetmaker. Much still needs to be learned about Hockaday, but some of his construction details (such as the shape of the feet and the use of a double bead on the top of his drawer sides) suggest that he may have trained in or worked as a journeyman in a Richmond shop before setting up shop in James City County, just outside Williamsburg. The Hockaday family had been residents of the Williamsburg vicinity since the 1760s.
InscribedInscribed in ink on the underside of the top, proper left drawer "A very old piece of furniture. Probably it came down through Frances Bland Tucker. Was called the Old Williamsburg Bureau by Elizabeth J [or T?} Bryan who kept it in her chamber at Eagle Point in constant family use for the children's clothing. During the war 1861-5 it was hidden away at the Colman Robbins-[H]auston residence - Gloucester Co. Va. Removed to Carybrook 1877-8. Thence to Laburnum Decr. 12th 1911 St. George T.C. Bryan."

Paper label nailed to the inside of the backboards inscribed in ink "Mr. Joseph Bryan/ Times Bldg/ Richmond/ Virginia"

"6" and "4" and "3" in red crayon on the inside back of bottom drawer, small drawer, 2nd row, proper left, and small drawer 2nd row proper right.

"Ch..[me or na] cupord" in chalk on the outer side of one small drawer.
MarkingsBack of brass bails stamped "HJ"
ProvenanceDealer purchased chest at Motley's Auction, Richmond, VA.
Descended in the Tucker and Bryan family of Williamsburg, Gloucester, and Richmond.