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Chippendale Cherry and White Pine High Chest of Drawers Hampden County, Massachusetts, c. 1780
Sold for US$2,688 inc. premium
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Elizabeth Muir
Senior Specialist, Head of Sale
Amy Griffin
Cataloguer

Paul O'Hara
Sale Coordinator & Cataloguer
Chippendale Cherry and White Pine High Chest of Drawers
In two parts, the upper case with open-back bonnet cavity and vine-carved pilasters; the bottom section with shaped flat-arch apron conforming to shell-carved central drawer, dovetailed and cockbead-molded dividers, and four full cabriole legs terminating in pad feet, those in front raised on integral torus bases; the tops of all drawer stretchers are beaded and those on the bottom have elongated rear dovetails; the horizontal backboards are flush with exposed edges of top and bottom boards on both cases; refinished, finials and pendant moldings replaced, including finial, 104cm wide, 53cm deep, 213cm high (41in wide, 21in deep, 84in high).
Footnotes
Inscriptions
"Willed to Mother and father Ely by Eunice Edwards (Cousin) Since to Bessie [S.] Ely" inscribed on label applied to back of top shell-carved drawer. "Buylt 17[50] / Rebuylt 1900" and "John Ely" inscribed in pencil on top of lower case, "1750 / 1900" in chalk.
Provenance
Likely made for John Ely (1735-1815) of West Springfield, Massachusetts. John first married Dorcas Ely (1735-77) on 4 October 1758; second, Abigail Montague Ely (1748-1818) on 13 May 1780.
By descent to his granddaughter Eunice Lyman Edwards (1806-1888) of Southampton, Massachusetts.
Bequeathed to her cousin Dr. John Fellows Ely (1821-1902) of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
By descent to consignor through his granddaughter, Martha Weare Ely Marquis (1896-1998) of Cedar Rapids and Newton, Massachusetts.
Literature
For an authoritative discussion of the Springfield-Northampton Style of cabinetmaking, see Thomas P. and Alice K. Kugelman, Connecticut Valley Furniture: Eliphalet Chapin and His Contemporaries, 1750-1800 (Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 2005), p. 283-311.



