| Object ID |
1970.19 |
| Object Name |
Chest Of Drawers |
| Dimensions |
H-85.75 W-41.5 D-21.5 inches |
| Early Date |
1775 |
| Late Date |
1790 |
| Made By |
Shop of Major John Dunlap |
| Description |
Major John Dunlap (1746-1792) and his brother Lieutenant Samuel Dunlap (1752-1830), made furniture and panelled interiors in Southern New Hampshire during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Although the Dunlaps had access to urban centers and formal traditions of cabinetwork, they chose to create their own designs and developed a distinctive regional style of cabinetry. This high chest is characteristic of their work as seen by the basket weave cornice, heavy upper moldings, abundant surface decoration featuring several shells, s-shaped scrolls on a deep skirt, and short legs. Also common to the Dunlap's work are the visual tricks of making a single long drawer look like three smaller ones as seen on the second drawer from the top and the bottom drawer. In addition, the top drawer of the lower case has been made to look like two drawers. The juxtaposition of the shell carvings on the top center drawers may be unique to this chest.
The furniture produced by the Dunlaps and the craftsmen in their shops was primarily made of local hardwoods such as maple, pine, birch, and cherry, rather than the more expensive imported mahogany used by urban craftsmen in major furniture-making centers such as Boston, New port, and Philadelphia.
This high chest of drawers relates to chests in the collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society abd Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, both of which are documented as being made in the shop of Major John Dunlap in the early 1780s. |
| Credit |
Bequest of Mrs. Esther Dewey Merrill Parmelee |
|
