A Rare Pilgrim-Century Joined Oak with Maple and Cedar Chest with Two Drawers, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, circa 1690

top and several moldings replaced. Lacking till lid. Bears two old labels inscribed "Colonial Dames New York" and "1672 43503"

Miss C. M. Traver, New York;
Parke-Bernet Galleries;
Private Collection, Indiana;
Village Green Antiques, Richland, Michigan;

Van Cortlandt Mansion, Bronx, New York

Luke Vincent Lockwood, Colonial Furniture in America, Vol. I, (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913), p. 36, fig. 24.
"History in Houses: The Van Cortlandt House in New York", The Magazine Antiques 56, no.2 (August 1949): 104-7.

Secondary wood is white pine. The chest's facade has various replaced moldings and they are delineated on a handout available from the department. The lid is replaced. Lacking till lid. Proper left side of the chest compartment's floor boards with a significant rodent hole. A key for the lock is in the "parts box."
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 joined chest is part of large group of seventeenth century joined furniture that was crafted in the Plymouth county towns of Barnstable, Yarmouth, Marshfield and Scituate.  This particular chest is part of a very small subgroup of these joined pieces.  Only four other chests survive with the double arch arrangement of moldings on the central panel.  They are located at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Historic New England (ex. Nina Fletcher Little collection), The Henry Ford Museum and a private collection.¹  The currently offered lot's case construction and half-column turnings are identical to those at the Detroit Institute of Arts and Historic New England and therefore it is quite plausible that these three pieces were made by the same craftsman.

For additional information on Plymouth county joinery please refer to Peter Follansbee, "Unpacking the Little Chest", Old-Time New England 78, no. 268 (Spring/Summer 2000), pp. 5-23 and Brian Cullity, A Cubberd, Four Joyne Stools & Other Smalle Thinges: The Material Culture of Plymouth Colony, (Sandwich, MA: Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, 1994).

¹ Robert Blair St. George, The Wrought Covenant: Source Material for the Study of Craftsmen and Community in Southeastern New England 1620-1700, (Brockton, MA: Brockton Art Center, 1979), p. 36 and 53-4, nos. 17, 54, 58 and Sotheby's, New York, Important Americana, September 26, 2008, sale no. 8448, lot 14.  Another chest in a private New England collection and from the same group differs by having single arches on the side panels.