Chest-on-Chest Maker, attributed to: Edmund Townsend (American, 1736/7–1811)

1755–85

American Decorative Arts

By appointment, Hume Furniture Study
Medium

Mahogany; eastern white pine; one drawer divider, blocks, and some other framing elements, chestnut

Dimensions

84 11/16 × 41 7/16 × 20 13/16 in. (215.1 × 105.2 × 52.8 cm)
other (Upper case): 37 1/8 × 18 5/8 in. (94.3 × 47.3 cm)
other (Lower case): 38 9/16 × 19 3/16 in. (97.9 × 48.8 cm)

Credit Line

Mabel Brady Garvan Collection

Accession Number

1930.2162

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
Purchased in 1929 from B. Altman & Co., New York, by 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), 177–79, 180, no. 83, ill
  • 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), 104–5, fig. 86
  • Ruth Davidson, "In the Museums," Antiques (March 1967), 374, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

chests-on-chests, utilitarian objects

Inscriptions

There are numerous pencil shop marks and inscriptions. "Top" is written on the inside of each side of the upper and lower case; "Front Bottom" and another illegible inscription appears on the top side of the bottom of the upper case; "Front Top" appears to be written on the underside of the top of the upper case; "Bottom" is written on the inside of the bottom of the lower case; there is a pencil inscription on the underside of the top of the lower case; and many drawer backs and drawer dividers are numbered. There also are several modern pencil inscriptions, and the modern "318 / Goddard" is written in white chalk on the top side of the bottom of the top drawer in the lower case.

Technical metadata and APIs

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