Clothespress Maker: Unknown

1740–60

American Decorative Arts

By appointment, Hume Furniture Study

This clothespress is an unusual variant of the chest-on-chest form. This example relates to the Boston blockfront tradition. The two paneled doors, which follow the contour of the distinctive pediment, enclose the upper chest. The slider, underneath the uppercase, can be pulled out to temporarily hold linens and clothing. The clothespress stands over seven feet tall, making it then, as it is now, an imposing piece of furniture.

Medium

Mahogany; drawer sides, backs, bottoms, red oak; dustboards, eastern white pine.

Dimensions

85 3/8 × 45 9/16 × 22 in. (216.9 × 115.8 × 55.9 cm)
other (Upper case): 41 1/8 × 19 5/8 in. (104.4 × 49.8 cm)
other (Lower case): 41 1/8 × 19 3/4 in. (104.5 × 50.1 cm)

Credit Line

Mabel Brady Garvan Collection

Accession Number

1930.2726

Geography

Made in Boston, Massachusetts

Culture

American

Period

18th century

Classification

Furniture

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Dr. Michael A. Abrams, Baltimore, MD.; by sale in 1929 to Francis P. Garvan, New York. Gift in 1930 to Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Tim Clark, "The Saga of Aunt Bessie's Chest-on-Chest," Yankee 52, no. 4. (April 1988), 78-–83, 128–130, 132
  • Gerald W. R. Ward, American Case Furniture in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1988), 163, 165–67, 459, no. 78, ill
  • Lu Bartlett, A Bit of Vanity : Furniture of Eighteenth Century Boston : an Exhibition Sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, exh. cat. (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1972), no. 26
  • "Boston Furniture of the Eighteenth Century: A Conference Held by the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 11 and 12 May 1972," Publications of the Colonial Society of Masachusetts 48 (1972), 141, fig. 96
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Inscriptions

The drawers are numbered in white chalk on the outside of the back. "Top L P" is written in chalk in the underside of the top of the lower case. "T" is written in chalk on the top of the dustboard above the dressing slide. The lowest drawer of the upper case was once lined with newspaper; a remaining fragment bears the date 18 February 1850.

Technical metadata and APIs

IIIF

Open in Mirador

View IIIF manifest

The International Image Interoperability Framework, or IIIF, is an open standard for delivering high-quality, attributed digital objects online at scale. Visit iiif.io to learn more

Linked Art

API response for this object

Linked Art is a Community working together to create a shared Model based on Linked Open Data to describe Art.