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Cupboard

Attributed toWorkshop of Thomas Dennis (American, 1638 - 1706)
Dateca. 1680
MediumOak and white pine
DimensionsOverall: 58 1/2 × 45 1/4 × 21 1/4 inches (148.59 × 114.94 × 53.98 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number33-527
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 211
DescriptionNew England type of American Jacobean. Three large drawers surmounted by a large compartment with door. Decorated with applique turnings.Gallery Label
This imposing cabinet, used to display and store prized possessions such as textiles and documents, signified the wealth and status of its owner. The intricately carved moldings and applied spindles, stained to look as if they are made of the more expensive and exotic wood ebony, create a play of light and dark over the highly articulated surface. Originally from Devonshire, England, the cabinetmaker Thomas Dennis settled in Massachusetts in 1663, bringing with him not only superlative joinery skills but also the most current fashions in English furniture design. As large trees were plentiful in the new Colonies, woodworkers took advantage of large boards and the beauty of the wood grain in their works. 

Provenance

With Dexter Tiffany (1846 - 1921), New York City;

Sold Colonial and Early Federal Furniture of Silver and Porcelains of Distinguished Provenance…Acquired from Notable Collections by Israel Sack, Sold by His Order, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, Inc., New York, January 9, 1932, lot 86;

Purchased from Leon David through Israel Sack, Boston and New York, by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933.

Published References

The Magazine Antiques, 19, no. 3 (February 1931): frontispiece, (repro.).

Colonial and Early Federal Furniture of Silver and Porcelains of Distinguished Provenance…Acquired from Notable Collections by Israel Sack, Sold by His Order, (New York: American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, Inc., 1932).

Irving P Lyon, “The Oak Furniture of Ipswich, Massachusetts, Part IV. Other Affiliates: A Group Characterized by Geometrical Panels,” The Magazine Antiques 34, no. 2 (August 1938), 79-81, (repro.).

Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture: Early American (New York: Crown, 1950), 111.


 

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