Chest (1690–1720): Art, History and Details

Chest (1690–1720) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Lift-top storage chests with drawers are one of the most typical furniture forms of the 1700s. Although this chest was clearly made by someone far removed from more sophisticated English examples, its maker produced a distinctly energetic form. The carved decoration includes an intricate tulip-and-leaf pattern. The letters "AA" in the center of the blocks on either side of the central motif indicate the chest was probably made for a young woman with those initials.

Object facts

• Title: Chest
• Date: 1690–1720
• Culture: America, Massachusetts, Connecticut River Valley (Hampshire county), late 17th - early 18th century
• Type: Furniture and woodwork
• Technique: oak
• Dimensions: Overall: 96.9 x 122.9 x 47.3 cm (38 1/8 x 48 3/8 x 18 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Furniture
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1915.569

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Adams, Henry. What's American about American art?: a gallery tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.