On View
Not on viewChest with Drawer
Artist
Symonds shop tradition (attributed)
1680 - 1720
Date1700-1701
Terms
- Chests
- Mahogany
- Maple
- Oak
- Red Cedar
- Ipswich
- Salem
Dimensions78.68 × 119.29 × 50.76 cm (31 × 46 15/16 × 20 in.)
MarkingsSmall mahogany piece set in top of center front panel. Front side carved "MT. 1701". When removed for restoration of chest, other side was found to have carving "AH 1700". Kettell conjured that perhaps the chest was meant for one person and later given to another.
Credit LineGift of Mr. Russell H. Kettell (1942)
Object numberF1025
DescriptionOak, mahogany, maple, red cedar. Panelled chest with one drawer and lid. Frame mortise & tenoned. Three panels at back, two on each side, three on front above drawer. Bottom of chest made of several panels with tongue and groove edges. Small interior compartment at top left, lid of which is missing. Chest lid of two boards and battens, with strips at each end and pin hinges. Side stiles and rails edge and channel molded. Turned spindles applied to stiles at front. Front panels have applied squares of wood surrounded with mouldings, center panel has pointed piece, and at top an applied mahogany piece with carving. Drawer front has applied pieces, moldings, and spindles to imitate panels. Two turned pulls. Oval and rectangular.
The rear facade has three panels. The rear surface of each rear post top is rounded to accommodate the opened lid. The interior has a till on the proper right end. The chest compartment has six riven floorboards, one of which is a modern replacement. The drawer is substantially intact. the drawer front is rabbeted on the ends to accept the sides, which are attached with two countersunk nails on each side. The rear of the drawer is rabbeted to accept the sides, which are attached with two countersunk nails driven in from behind on each end. The drawer bottom is made of five riven boards running from front to rear. The lower edge of the drawer front is rabbeted to accept the bottom boards, which are nailed on all four sides. Both the chest compartment floorboards and the drawer bottom boards are fitted side-by-side with lap joints. A pre-restoration photograph taken by Russell Hawes Kettell in 1941 shows extensive loss to the ornament on the facade, since restored. The feet are restored. The rear board of the lid appears to have been part of the original and now has restored cleats and a restored front board. The lid of the till is missing. The mahogany date panel currently is fitted with screws so that is can be removed to examine the date on the reverse.
The Dodge family chest belongs to a well-recognized shop tradition associated with the Symonds family of joiners based in Salem, Massachusetts, and surrounding towns in Essex County. Various furniture forms in the group bear carved dates ranging from 1676 to 1701, the latter date being the latest one found on the Dodge chest. To be precise, the dated piece of mahogany in the upper portion of the central panel on the facade has "A.H. 1700" carved on the reverse and "M.T. 1701" on the present obverse, or outer surface. The best explanation for the presence of two dates, obviously, ks that a customer reneged on an order for a chest and the joiner subsequently recarved the date panel for the eventual purchaser.
The six documented chests related to the Dodge example are remarkably consistent in size, structure, and applied decoration. Although the Dodge chest has restored feet and applied moldings and plaques in the side panels of the facade, the restorations are fairly accurate. Within the overall stylistic context of eastern Massachusetts at the end of the seventeenth century, the chest embodies a trend of joiners in out-lying towns to emulate the London-based designs of Boston. AMong the salient features being copied were the glyphs and bosses of the frieze, the plaques and modelings on the panels and drawer front, and the large and small applied colonnettes. These details are subordinated to a rational, architectural composition that is extremely accomplished, if a bit compartmentalized and dry by eighteenth-century standards. The success of the Symonds joiners in absorbing the Boston aesthetic is all the more noteworthy because the original style brought from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, by the patriarch of the shop tradition, John Symonds (1595?-1671), was based on heavy carved ornament in the mannerist style.
A subtler aspect of Boston influence on the Salem joiners that is not apparent in the refinished Dodge chest was colorism based on the use of selected hardwoods for ornamental purposes. The colonnettes, glyphs, and basses of the facade originally were colored with thin black paint to look like ebony. The moldings are made of red cedar that was quite bright when new. Many of the plaques on other Symonds chests were made of black walnut. Most outstanding here is the mahogany date plaque, arguably the first datable use of the wood in a piece of American furniture.
The rear facade has three panels. The rear surface of each rear post top is rounded to accommodate the opened lid. The interior has a till on the proper right end. The chest compartment has six riven floorboards, one of which is a modern replacement. The drawer is substantially intact. the drawer front is rabbeted on the ends to accept the sides, which are attached with two countersunk nails on each side. The rear of the drawer is rabbeted to accept the sides, which are attached with two countersunk nails driven in from behind on each end. The drawer bottom is made of five riven boards running from front to rear. The lower edge of the drawer front is rabbeted to accept the bottom boards, which are nailed on all four sides. Both the chest compartment floorboards and the drawer bottom boards are fitted side-by-side with lap joints. A pre-restoration photograph taken by Russell Hawes Kettell in 1941 shows extensive loss to the ornament on the facade, since restored. The feet are restored. The rear board of the lid appears to have been part of the original and now has restored cleats and a restored front board. The lid of the till is missing. The mahogany date panel currently is fitted with screws so that is can be removed to examine the date on the reverse.
The Dodge family chest belongs to a well-recognized shop tradition associated with the Symonds family of joiners based in Salem, Massachusetts, and surrounding towns in Essex County. Various furniture forms in the group bear carved dates ranging from 1676 to 1701, the latter date being the latest one found on the Dodge chest. To be precise, the dated piece of mahogany in the upper portion of the central panel on the facade has "A.H. 1700" carved on the reverse and "M.T. 1701" on the present obverse, or outer surface. The best explanation for the presence of two dates, obviously, ks that a customer reneged on an order for a chest and the joiner subsequently recarved the date panel for the eventual purchaser.
The six documented chests related to the Dodge example are remarkably consistent in size, structure, and applied decoration. Although the Dodge chest has restored feet and applied moldings and plaques in the side panels of the facade, the restorations are fairly accurate. Within the overall stylistic context of eastern Massachusetts at the end of the seventeenth century, the chest embodies a trend of joiners in out-lying towns to emulate the London-based designs of Boston. AMong the salient features being copied were the glyphs and bosses of the frieze, the plaques and modelings on the panels and drawer front, and the large and small applied colonnettes. These details are subordinated to a rational, architectural composition that is extremely accomplished, if a bit compartmentalized and dry by eighteenth-century standards. The success of the Symonds joiners in absorbing the Boston aesthetic is all the more noteworthy because the original style brought from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, by the patriarch of the shop tradition, John Symonds (1595?-1671), was based on heavy carved ornament in the mannerist style.
A subtler aspect of Boston influence on the Salem joiners that is not apparent in the refinished Dodge chest was colorism based on the use of selected hardwoods for ornamental purposes. The colonnettes, glyphs, and basses of the facade originally were colored with thin black paint to look like ebony. The moldings are made of red cedar that was quite bright when new. Many of the plaques on other Symonds chests were made of black walnut. Most outstanding here is the mahogany date plaque, arguably the first datable use of the wood in a piece of American furniture.
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