A Colonial Chest-of-Drawers

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Traditionally, the two major auction groups organize in January in New York their sales of American furniture and furnishings, generally with a strong section for silverware.

Without waiting for the press release of Christie's, we go directly to lot 214 of their sale of January 23.

It is a chest-of-drawers made in Boston circa 1770, while North America lived the last years of its colonial period. This piece of furniture belonged from the beginning to one of the most important families in the city, Quincy, where it remained during almost two centuries. Remind that the political role of Boston was paramount, and the Quincys were so closely related to the Adams that they appear in the name of the sixth U.S. president, John Quincy Adams.

Our furniture is a mahogany chest of drawers of Chippendale style. It has four stacked drawers, and is mounted on curious curved feet terminated by a claw holding a ball. It is curved (bombé shaping) at the level of the lower two drawers, making it a technical rarity for American furniture of this period. It has retained its original bronzes (three per drawer).

(Language note : bombé is a French word reused in English, but French use instead "galbé" for this meaning).

It has therefore all the qualities to attract American collectors, always keen of the witnesses of the time of their Independence.

The estimate is very open, as it is often the case for American and English furniture: 2 to 4 million $.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

It's far from the excitement of Americana sales in January 2008, where a Chippendale mahogany table fetched $ 5.4 million including premium at Christie's.

The chest of Boston has not been sold.