Jeff Headley's high chest

P

Peter Storey Pentz

Well-known member
Because I am a new member, I wander around the Forum reading old posts and trying to catch up.  This is a response to the Feb., 2011 postings on dust boards. 

Jeff, I believe your high chest is from Chester County, PA.  The extension of the sides to support bracket feet is a common feature of that region. Also, a picture of a high chest with an identical drawer behind its bolection molding can be found in Schiffer's book, 'Furniture and Its Makers of Chester County, Pennsylvania', #131.  That high chest also has the owner's initials inlaid in the top center drawer as well as the date, 1747.

It is a really nice high chest.  PSP
 
Peter, Thank you for your response. Chester County, Pa. sounds interesting with this chest found in the lower Shenandoah Valley. This chest also has oak as a secondary wood  throughout the drawer sides except for the center case drawer side which has poplar as a secondary drawer side. Is this also seen in Chester County, Pa. Thank you for the information!
 
Jeff,
You are welcome.  I like to do what I can to help people.  It is well documented that there was a lot of migration from eastern Pennsylvania westward and southward along the Great Wagon Road into the Shenandoah Valley during the 18th and 19th Centuries.  This is probably how your tall chest arrived there.  The process was reversible, also.  I have a client whose mother purchased a table by John Shearer of Martinsburg (now West Virginia) just outside of Philadelphia.  There is a lot of very good information related to this subject and your tall chest in Paint, Pattern, & People Furniture of Southeastern Pennsylvania 1725-1850 by Wendy Cooper and Lisa Minardi. Also, the 2011 volume of American Furniture has articles on this region's furniture by the same authors.  The use of oak as a secondary wood seems to occur in Eastern Pennsylvania furniture without a lot of rhyme or reason.  I just found the base of a chest on chest that has drawer backs and sides that are a mix of poplar, oak, and walnut.  It seems they used what they had. 

I know it is none of my business, but ... Did you keep the tall chest?

Regards,
PSP
 
Peter, I still have the high chest. It is a chest I plan on keeping. I have made a trifed foot base to cradle the chest. This way the case will not be changed. After investigating the chest there are definite reasons for it's interior construction. A very sophisticated piece for it's time. The measurement are aligned with Chester County, Pa but I would like to think that this chest was made in the Shenandoah Valley by a Chester County Pa trained cabinetmaker migrating their way down the Valley ( down the Indian Buffalo Trail before it was the Old Wagon Trail). Yes, I am dreaming but it is not out of the realm of possibility. Winchester supplied Philadelphia a lot a material. With my reaching for straws I do appreciate your comments and help with this piece. Please let me know if you would like any other detailed pictures or measurements or construction information pertaining to this piece.
 
Thanks Jeff. I just wanted to see it before it goes away. I think you did a great job on the design of the base and know you'll enjoy it.
 
Chest bottom after I removed its new additional feet. I was told the new feet were added a few months before I got it when they cut off the original feet. Dog on it!!!!!!! With this said who knows that they were the original feet I didn't see them. They could have been cut off years ago.
 

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I have never seen construction like this in English case work. I can't fathom why the first dovetails are so far in from the front and back edges of the sides.

Is it common for North American carcase backs of this period to be housed in grooves rather than rebates?
 
Jack,

You have hit on two American regionalisms.  The first is that a lot of Chester County, Pennsylvania case pieces have sides in which a portion at the front and back is extended below the bottom board in order to provide an attachment for the feet.  The second, the housing of backboards in a plowed (or in your case, ploughed) groove is something that shows up in different parts of Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and the South.  Personally, I consider it more "craftsmanlike" than simply nailing the backboards into a rabbet, but it doesn't come up to the full frame and panel backs I have encountered on some British and Southern furniture.  PSP
 
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