Joined Chest, 1699-1720

Joined chest with drawer
Possibly Northampton, Massachusetts, 1699-1720
Oak and hard pine

About sixty-five chests form the subdivision of "Hadley" chests known as Group Three chests under Patricia E. Kane's classification. These chests are decorated with shallow carving laid out with templates, in the form of the generic motif composed of a leaf and tulip, along with a variety of freehand carved motifs used as embellishments or fillers. Histories of ownership of Group Three chests are poorly documented, and although various hands can be recognized on the basis of carving quirks and drawer construction, only this example and five related chests have been convincingly traced to a single town or origin, Northampton, Massachusetts. Four of the chests are carved with the full name of the girl or young woman for which they were made. The "Esther Cook" chest, the "Sarah Strong" chest, and the "Esther Lyman" chest were made for girls born in Northampton between 1695 and 1698, and the "Mary Burt" chest was made for a girl born in nearby Springfield in 1695. In addition to the repeated generic motif, these chests display large fleurs-de-lis on the drawer fronts and outer facade panels with strange quatrefoil designs. The maker also tended to fill voids and compensate for poor spacing of lettering with an odd, calligraphic incised squiggle.

back to Collections