A VERY RARE PILGRIM CENTURY CARVED AND JOINED OAK CHEST WITH DRAWER, ATTIRBUTED TO JOHN THURSTON, DEDHAM OR MEDFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1670 |

top is replaced.

Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware;
Pook & Pook, Inc., Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Period Furniture & Accessories, March 2005, lot 125;
Vogel Collection no. 754.

Robert Blair St. George, "Style and Structure in the Joinery of Dedham and Medfield, Massachusetts, 1635-1685," American Furniture and Its Makers:  Winterthur Portfolio 13, Winterthur Museum, 1979, p. 17, fig. 18

The case is in excellent condition. The chest was painted black in the 19th century and subsequently cleaned by Richard Wolbers who performed an extensive analytical study on the original paint. Wolbers undertook a painstaking process in removing the later paint to reveal remnants of a similar red wash and black paint in the carving recesses. The Winterthur Museum report/analysis is available.Wear and discoloration commensurate with age and use. The top is a replacement made by Peter Folinsbee. There was previously a till box that is now lacking from the interior. Case width: 41 in.; Depth: 17 1/2 in.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This chest belongs to a group of joined and carved pieces attributed by Robert Blair St. George to John Thurston (1607-1685) of Dedham and Medfield, Massachusetts.  He emigrated to New England in 1637 from County Suffolk, England. The carving ascribed to the Thurston shop comprises almost exclusively foliated S-scrolls, paired to create an anthemion-like motif.  A document box in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 10.125.680) has nearly identical carving and remnants of red wash and black paint in the carving recesses (see Frances Gruber Safford, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Early Colonial Period: the Seventeenth-Century and William and Mary Styles, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), pp. 173-5, no. 72). The currently offered lot was painted overall in black during the nineteenth century.