High Chest of Drawers Maker, attributed to: Benjamin Peabody (1717–1794)

1760–80

American Decorative Arts

By appointment, Hume Furniture Study
Medium

Mahogany, chestnut; top front rail in lower case, eastern white pine; spring lock on upper right drawer in upper case, white oak; replaced spring lock on upper left drawer in upper case, black locust

Dimensions

82 1/2 × 39 3/16 × 20 1/8 in. (209.6 × 99.5 × 51.1 cm)
other (Upper case): 35 7/8 × 18 7/16 in. (91.2 × 46.8 cm)
other (Lower case): 37 7/16 × 19 1/2 in. (95.1 × 49.5 cm)

Credit Line

Mabel Brady Garvan Collection

Accession Number

1930.2678

Geography

Made in Newport, Rhode Island

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
Henry V. Weil, New York; by sale to Francis P. Garvan, New York. Gift in 1930 to Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • 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), 270–72, 314–15, no. 142, ill
  • Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport: The Townsends and Goddards (Tenafly, N.J.: MMI Americana Press, 1984), 146, 185, fig. 3.103
  • John T. Kirk, American Furniture and the British Tradition to 1830 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982), fig. 352
  • Liza Moses and Michael Moses, "Authenticating John Townsend's and John Goddard's Queen Anne and Chippendale Tables," Antiques 121, no. 5 (May 1982), fig. 3.103
  • Robert Bishop, How to Know American Antique Furniture (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1973), fig. 71
  • John T. Kirk, Early American Furniture: How to Recognize, Evaluate, and Care for the Most Beautiful Pieces: High Style, Country, Primitive and Rustic (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970), fig. 90
  • Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr., "Schemes for an Exhibition House," Antiques 70, no. 1 (July 1956), 57
  • Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr., The Arts and Crafts of Newport, Rhode Island, 1640–1820 (Newport, R.I.: Preservation Society of Newport County, 1954), 67, no. 41
  • Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr., "The Newport Exhibition," Antiques 64, no. 1 (July 1953), 43, fig. 20
  • Edgar G. Miller, American Antique Furniture: A Book for Amateurs, 2 vols. (Baltimore: Lord Baltimore Press, 1937), vol. 1, pp. 372–73, no. 656
  • Patricia E. Kane, "'An Ingenious Man': Benjamin Peabody, Newport Cabinetmaker," American Furniture (2022), 53-65, fig. 9, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

high chests of drawers

Inscriptions

There is an illegible inscription, probably original, on the outside of the back of the upper case; it may contain "1778". There are numerous shop marks and number in pencil and white chalk. A modern paper label with a red border inscribed with "20" is pasted to the inside of the bottom of the wide drawer in the lower case; the same number is painted in red next to this label.

Technical metadata and APIs

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