High Chest of Drawers

New craft techniques were introduced into colonial America from England at the end of the 17th century, perhaps by John Brocas who, in 1696, became "the first English cabinetmaker now to have immigrated to Boston and continued in residence there." Unlike the earlier joiners who used mortise-and-tenon joints, cabinetmakers, such as the one who made this piece, used more refined dovetails to fit together the carcass of a piece of case furniture. At least part of the carcass, usually made of inexpensive woods, would then be covered with thin veneers of more handsome, richly grained woods such as walnut. The drawer fronts of this chest are veneered with an almost dazzling burrwood, while the sides are made of a plain solid maple, a contrast more common in American than in English furniture of the period.

This high chest of drawers was made by a Boston cabinetmaker in the William and Mary style. The early use of curvilinear design in the apron and stretchers and the elegant tapering legs contrast and soften the effect of the upper case which perpetuates the more severe rectilinear aesthetic of the 17th century.