A Very Fine and Rare Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Bonnet-Top High Chest of Drawers, Salem, Massachusetts, circa 1770

appears to retain its original hardware and finials

Israel Sack, Inc., New York

Laura Beach, "A Tale of Two Cities on Philadelphia's Maine Line," Antiques and Fine Art, 6 (Spring 2006), no. 6. p. 142.

four of six carved knee returns replaced; front claw and ball talon worn and has lost definition on proper left front foot; back boards of upper section below bonnet are an early replacement; lower section of central finial possibly restored; proper front right leg broken out and re-glued. Proper left side return appears original.
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 follows a popular Essex County, Massachusetts case furniture pattern characterized by a bonnet-top, fan-carved drawers, and claw feet. Several of its design features pinpoint an origin in Salem, such as the tiny carved pinwheels at the termination of the broken-pediment moldings, the distinctively shaped front apron with a pierced diamond flanked by pinwheels, the sharply arised knees with stylized leaf carving, and bulging knee brackets.

Though similar to Boston work, Salem case pieces often surpass their Boston counterparts in their level of fine craftsmanship. Here the cabinetmaker adopted a Boston case shape but added features of more ambitious design. For example, the apron displays an outline of reverse curves instead of the flattened arches typically found on Boston pieces. This shaping has been further embellished with small pinwheels and a diamond cutout. The pinwheel motif has been repeated in the pediment while the radiating fans are carved within a scribed border. The knees have been enhanced with deeply fluted carving extending to the flanking knee brackets.  The attenuated cabriole legs and finely articulated claw feet were fashioned to visually lighten the massive case.

Three other Salem high chests with a closely related design include one owned by Mrs. Charles Hallam Keep exhibited at the Girl Scout Loan Exhibition, one in the collection of the High Museum of Art, and one at Historic New England with a history in the Sanderson family of Salem.¹ Another with a flat top but similar decorative details is in the collection of Yale University.² Identical knee carving of the same pattern is found on a Salem block-front desk illustrated in Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Volume VI, P4507, p. 1438.³ That desk shares many similarities with a group of block-front desk-and-bookcases of Salem origin, one of which appears to have been made by Henry Rust (1737-1812) while he was working in the shop of Nathaniel Gould (1734-1782).⁴  A desk-and-bookcase in the Bybee Collection at the Dallas Museum of Art attributed to Rust, one at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, and a third from the Metcalfe-Paine family are also part of this group.⁵

¹ See Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Vol. 3, (Washington, D.C.: Highland House Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 631, no., 1420, Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture, (New York: Crown, 1993), p. 198 and Brock Jobe and Myrna Kaye, New England Furniture: The Colonial Era, (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1984), no. I-27, p. 28.
² See Gerald Ward, American Case Furniture, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 1988), no. 134, p. 258.
³ This desk was sold at Sotheby's New York, Important American Furniture, folk Art, Folk Paintings and Silver, October 24, 1987, sale no. 5622, lot 525.
⁴ See Morrison Heckscher, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985), no. 181, p. 278.
⁵ See Charles Venable, American Furniture in the Bybee Collection, (Dallas, TX: The Museum, 1989), no. 28, pp. 58-63 and Lewis A. Shepard, American Art at Amherst, (Middletown, CT: Distributed by Wesleyan University Press, 1978.), pp 244-5.