The Porter Family Chippendale Cherrywood Bonnet-Top High Chest, Chapin School, Hartford County, Connecticut or Northampton, Massachusetts

Retains a dark historic surface; retains original finials

This high chest has a history of descent in the Porter family of the Connecticut River Valley. Assuming patrilineal descent, it possibly descended in the following manner:

William Porter (1763-1847) of Hadley, Massachusetts, who married Lois Eastman (1764-1792) in 1788;
To their son William Porter (1792-1853) of Hadley and Lee, Massachusetts, who married Mary Ann Quincy (1787-1835);
To their son William Porter (1820-1917) of Lee, Massachusetts and Beloit, Wisconsin, who married Ellen Chapin (1831-1905), granddaughter of Aaron Chapin;
To their son, Frank Chamberlain Porter (1859-1946), of Beloit, WI and New Haven, CT, who married Delia Wood Lyman (1858-1933), the great granddaughter of Oliver Ellsworth (1745-1807), the Chief Justice of Connecticut and a prominent citizen of Windsor;
To their son William Quincy Porter (1897-1966) of New Haven, who married Lois Brown (1905-1980);
Thence by descent in their family.

Assuming matrilineal descent, this chest could have been commissioned by Oliver Ellsworth (mentioned above), on the occasion of his marriage to Abigail Wolcott (1755-1818) of East Windsor in 1772. Their portrait by Ralph Earl is in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum;
To their daughter Frances Ellsworth Wood (1786-1868) of New Haven, who married Joseph Wood (d. 1856);
To their daughter Delia Williams Wood (d. 1833) of New Haven, who married Chester Lyman;
To their daughter Delia Lyman Porter (mentioned above) who married Frank Chamberlain Porter;
Thence by descent through the Porter family as noted above to the present owners.

white pine secondary wood; replaced hardware; proper left drawer in lower case with chip to drawer lip. minor scratches to proper left side of case
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 high chest of drawers is a classic example of case furniture associated with Eliphalet Chapin (1741-1807), the highly accomplished and influential cabinetmaker who trained in Enfield, Connecticut and Philadelphia before opening a shop in East Windsor, Connecticut. This design of the high chest reflects Chapin's unique blend of Philadelphia training with his original interpretation of Connecticut design traditions. He followed Philadelphia practice by using a high style case form favored there comprised of a pierced swan's neck pediment, shell-carved drawers, scrolled acanthus-carved volutes, a shaped skirt and cabriole legs ending in claw feet. Nevertheless, the use of cherrywood, the minimalism of the carving, and its absence on the skirt and knees reflect a more conservative Connecticut design tradition reducing ornament and emphasizing form that was preferred by the elite farmer-merchants of the Connecticut River Valley.

This chest contains many of the significant index features of case furniture made in Chapin's shop identified by Thomas P. Kugelman and Alice K. Kugelman with Robert Lionetti in Connecticut Valley Furniture: Eliphalet Chapin and His Contemporaries, 1750-1800.¹  It closely follows Chapin shop practice in the treatment of its dovetails, the attachment of its waist molding, the L-shaped side drawer runners and finial plinths, among many other features, but deviates in the center plinth with carved decoration, use of a center finial rather than a cartouche, and absence of quarter columns. This suggests that it may be the work of a 2^nd generation Chapin school craftsman who trained in the shop and closely followed Chapin construction and design practices but was working elsewhere using his own templates.

A possible candidate is Julius Barnard, a Chapin apprentice who set up shop in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1792. He likely made a very similar high chest currently in the collection of Historic Deerfield for Caleb Strong (1744-1819), a U.S. senator and governor of Massachusetts.²  This chest and the Barnard example are remarkably similar in design, with a turned central finial resting on a fluted plinth, carved shells lacking a three-dimensional shaping of those from the Chapin shop, drawer sides that are rounded on the top, identical skirts and cabriole legs, and claw feet perhaps carved by the same hand. This chest lacks quarter columns and capped side finial plinths, but is otherwise very closely related. A side chair at Historic Deerfield from a set probably originally owned by Samuel Barnard (1746-1826), a cousin of Julius's, displays cabriole legs and claw feet possibly by the same hand.³ A stand table and armchair that belonged to Joseph Clarke (1746-1828), the widower of Julius Barnard's sister, also appear to stem from the same shop.

¹ Hartford, 2005, p. 143.
² See Kugelman, Kugelman and Lionetti, cat. 77, pp. 178-9.
³ See ibid, cat. 77A, p. 179.

Sotheby's would like to thank Thomas and Alice Kugelman for their assistance with the research for this lot.