Scroll

Characteristics:

• Rail: Scrolled profile leading to high raised central arch with large shell pendant

• Drawer Configuration: One over three drawers, with narrow drawer at center set above arch with nearly-square side drawers extending lower

• Top: Ogee and canted

• Case: Square and fluted canted

• Legs: Cabriole

• Feet: Paneled pad, trifid, ball and claw

Known makers:

Best examples:

• PMA 2011-91-30

• Kaufman Collection, high chest and dressing table (illustrated in Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection, 88, cat. 30)

• Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury, vol. 1, no. 428

• W.M. Hornor, Blue Book, pl. 135

• American Antiques from the Israel Sack Collection, vol. 7, 1792, P4997

• Christie’s, New York, January 16—17, 2003, lot 316

• Skinner, Boston, November 7, 2004, lot 158

• Freeman’s, Philadelphia, April 19, 2009, lot 159

• Freeman’s, Philadelphia, April 30, 2012, lot 245

• Christie’s, New York, January 17—18, 2019, lot 1264

• Freeman’s, Philadelphia, April 28, 2020, lot 41

Characteristics:

• Rail: Scrolled and serrated profile leading to raised central arch with pendant, often a shell

• Drawer Configuration: One over three drawers, with two sides extending lower

• Top: Ogee

• Case: Squared, fluted canted, or quarter column

• Legs: Cabriole

• Feet: Paneled pad, trifid, ball and claw

Known makers:

Best examples:

• Yale University Art Gallery 1930.2627

• Winterthur 1999.0001.001; 1960.0733

• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston B.66.15; B.69.527

• Colonial Williamsburg 1989-450

• Baltimore Museum of Art 1929.13.1

• Magazine Antiques, October 1986, 569, illus.

• W.M. Hornor, Blue Book, pl. 66

• Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury, vol. 1, no. 416

• Christie’s, New York, June 14, 2000, lot 78

• Christie’s, New York, January 18—19, 2007, lot 612

• Christie’s, New York, January 23, 2009, lot 191

• Christie’s, New York, January 17—18, 2019, lot 1236

Dressing Table

Delaware Valley, 1750-80
American black walnut, tulip poplar, Atlantic white cedar
28 1/2 x 34 3/8 x 20 1/4 inches
Yale University Art Gallery
Mabel Brady Garvan Collection, 1930.2627

High Chest

Philadelphia, 1755-75
Walnut
94 3/4 x 45 x 26 inches
1999.0001.001, Bequest of Charles J. Harrington
Courtesy of Winterthur Museum

Dressing Table

Philadelphia, 1745-55
Walnut|
Freeman's, Philadelphia, November 16, 2016, lot 119|
Private collection

Characteristics:

• Rail: Tightly scrolled profile leading to central pendant/flourish

• Drawer Configuration: One over three drawers, with two sides extending lower

• Top: Ogee

• Case: Squared, fluted canted, or quarter column

• Legs: Cabriole

• Feet: Scroll volute, paneled pad, trifid, ball and claw

Known makers:

Best examples:

• PMA 1964-142-1

• W.M. Hornor, Blue Book, pl. 18

• Northeast Auctions, Portsmouth, NH, October 28-29, 2017, lot 554

High Chest of Drawers

Philadelphia, c. 1770
Walnut, tulip poplar, white cedar, yellow pine; brass
7 feet 10 inches × 44 1/4 inches × 23 1/4 inches
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Gift of Mrs. W. Logan MacCoy, 1964-142-1

Characteristics:

• Rail: Crescendo of scrolls descends down to central spade-shaped drop

• Drawer Configuration: One over three, with the central drawer extremely large

• Top: Squared

• Case: Fluted quarter columns

• Legs: Cabriole

• Feet: Ball and claw

Known makers: David Evans (active 1774—1814)

Best examples:

• PMA 1932-45-105

• Yale University Art Gallery, 1930.2062

• Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury, vol. 1, no. 415

• Margaret B. Schiffer, Furniture and Its Makers of Chester County, 1966, fig. 79

• Sotheby’s, New York, January 18, 1998, lot 1715

• Christie’s, New York, January 15—16, 1999, lot 706

• Sotheby’s, New York, September 26, 2008, lot 43

• Christie’s, New York, September 28, 2011, lot 37

• Sotheby’s, New York, January 21, 2012, lot 241

• Christie’s, New York, September 24, 2012, lot 53

• Sotheby’s, New York, September 27, 2012, lot 146

• Christie’s, New York January 23, 2014, lot 139

• Sotheby’s, New York, January 25, 2014, lot 207

• Freeman’s, Philadelphia, May 2, 2014, lot 25

Dressing Table
Attributed to David Evans (active 1774—1814)

Philadelphia, 1774
Mahogany, tulip poplar, white cedar, yellow pine
30 1/8 x 36 x 21 1/4 inches
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Bequest of Lydia Thompson Morris, 1932-45-105

Dressing Table

Pennsylvania or Maryland, 1760-80
American black walnut; southern yellow pine; drawer bottoms, Atlantic white cedar
30 1/4 × 36 1/8 × 21 5/16 inches
Yale University Art Gallery
Mabel Brady Garvan Collection 1930.2062

Characteristics:

• Rail: Scroll front rail with angled cusp and two long scroll drops (or pendants) flanking a raised arch or with a shell drop

• Drawer Configuration: Two over two over one long drawer or one long drawer over three drawers with larger central drawer

• Top: Squared and ogee

• Case: Squared and fluted or carved quarter columns

• Legs: Cabriole

• Feet: Trifid, ball and claw

Known makers:

Best examples:

• Colonial Williamsburg 1990-295

• Yale University Art Gallery 1930.2037

• RISD Museum 04.118

• American Antiques from the Israel Sack Collection, vol. 6, 39, P789; vol. 7, 1938—39, P5239

• W.M. Hornor, Blue Book, pls. 38, 136, 218

• Clement E. Conger with Mary K. Itsell (ed. Alexandra W. Rollins), Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State, 1991, cat. 29

• Sotheby’s, New York, February 2, 1985, lot 1150

• Christie’s, New York, January 16, 1998, lot 477 (no image)

Dressing Table

Delwaware Valley, c. 1769
American black cherry; southern yellow pine
28 9/16 × 34 1/2 × 19 7/8 inches
Yale University Art Gallery
Mabel Brady Garvan Collection 1930.2037