Description:
Measuring 46 x 23 x 46” high, this impressive chest boasts bold columns and feet, and subtle figure in the walnut. This is one of those rarely-found, early American Empire chests that was entirely hand-made - even to the hardware and fasteners. Drawers and case are solid walnut, with figured walnut veneer used sparingly on the front of the case.
This is not a country/primitive chest. The maker was a skilled and careful craftsman, making a fine piece of furniture either for himself, or for an affluent buyer.
PLEASE NOTE: very often in the 19th Century a furniture-maker would substitute poplar for walnut where a wide piece was needed - such as in a top. That is not the case here - the top is solid walnut, and one piece . The top measures 22.5 inches wide, which may just be the widest walnut board I have ever seen in a piece of furniture !
The marks made by scrub planes and scrapers are plainly seen on the inner surfaces, though hard to photograph. The drawer pulls are of an unusual and delicate design, lathe-turned by the maker, and all remain unbroken !
One of the other unusual features of the construction is the rabbeting in of three stout battens on the inside of the largest drawer front, which has kept the drawer front from warping.
This is a large, handsome chest which has survived 150+ years with surprisingly little damage or repair. No doggy teeth marks, no childrens’ crayon drawings, etc, and very few of the little dings that happen in the best of families. It is freshly cleaned and refinished, and it has a lovely color and subtle figuring that will only mellow with age.
I have a number of detail photos of this chest (our listing limits us to 4) so please request additional photos.
Our staff (actually, that’s sort of pretentious - we have one guy out back there doing all the heavy lifting, sniffing all those fumes and getting a little funny in the afternoons, but he does nice restoration work) aims to produce a finish that looks like a well-tended, 150-year-old finish, rather than that over-refinished, scraped-naked, open-pore glossy look so often seen. We rarely use any stain, so the color you see is the natural wood, just as it was years ago. And the best part is, that the color and finish will mellow and become more rich with time and careful use. Our finishes tend to get better and better with age , as the areas that are frequently touched acquire a nice, seemingly century-old, patina.
If you are in the Florida - Georgia area, there is a good possibility of delivery either free, or at a sharply reduced rate, as we travel in that area frequently.
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