Extremely Rare, Important & Fine Carved & Joined Chest
Attributed to Peter Blin, Wethersfield, Connecticut
Circa 1670-1700
This example is particularly notable for its superior carving and remarkable intact condition; including original top and till, moldings and applied turned ornaments, and full-height feet. The surface appears to have never been degraded or refreshed, other than with the application of a thin clear oil or finish over the original “red bricking” earth pigment of the case and moldings. The applied black turnings and linen fold moldings appear to have been refreshed [surface only] in the late 19th century.
The single board cleated top with thumbnail molding at front and sides is attached with original snipe-bill hinges; front framed with three panels above two superimposed drawers. The center panel features three carved floral devices [sunflowers] and four tulips issuing from a central stem against a matted ground; flanking panels display large tulips having gouge-carved detail above leafy and floral devices against a matted ground. The side panels are similarly framed and edged with applied moldings; at the top, an octagon created with applied moldings…the corners filled with triangular pieces; the octagonal panel with applied oval boss is centered by shadow moldings within the rail centers. The lower vertical panels are flanking the shadow molded stile; bottom rail similarly treated. Back to the front…The stiles feature applied split spindles; muntins with pairs of applied split spindles; applied moldings on the upper, middle and lower drawer rails. The side hung drawers are ornamented to appear as short-inline-drawers, applied moldings create octagons which center the turned pulls; center of each drawer features a pair of applied split spindles on applied panels with each drawer flanked by pairs of matching spindles.
Within the chest, on the right side is a lidded till; lid molded on front edge; stiles are beveled on inside. The drawers are side hung on runners nailed to stiles. The applied split spindles, moldings between drawers, bosses; triangular corners and rail moldings are painted black. The case and applied moldings on drawers and panel edges are painted red. Two back panels are sharply chamfered and fitted within back stiles and upper, lower and middle rails.
Although there are perhaps three dozen survivors from the Blin workshop, most are fragmentary, restored, or subject to considerable needed restoration. This present example, nearly three hundred fifty years old, is notable for its full development and remarkable intact condition. The applied elements re-attached with nails, screws and glue but largely intact; vertical molding on proper right of one drawer cracked and replaced; approximate one inch hole in backboard of chest at bottom, appears very old; no sign of surface degrading; surface of black painted elements enhanced circa 1900; partial replacement of wrought iron snipe hinges.
We believe it is most closely related to an example in the collection of Historic Deerfield, which is in “as found” unrestored condition. A similar chest, with some questionable divergence of detail, was sold at Christies, NY, January 21, 2011, Lot 64, and realized three-hundred eighty-two thousand dollars.
This Sunflower Chest remains in a remarkable intact state of originality most likely because it descended in a multigenerational family collection until 1981 and was then sold to a well-known dealer of early furniture who placed it within a very good collection where it has remained for nearly 40-years. The applied elements re-attached with nails, screws and glue but largely intact; vertical molding on proper right of one drawer cracked and replaced; approximate one inch hole in backboard of chest at bottom, appears very old; no sign of surface degrading; surface of black painted elements enhanced circa 1900; partial replacement of wrought iron snipe hinges.
(Height: 41.25"; width: 48"; depth: 20.75")
Reference: (Partial)
Dean A. Fales, The Furniture of Historic Deerfield, (New York, E.P. Dutton & Co., 1976), pp. 166-167.
Jonathan Fairbanks and Robert Trent New England Begins: Vol. 2 Mentality and Environment, (Boston, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1982), p.266-267.
Walter A. Dyer, The Tulip-and-Sunflower Press Cupboard, Magazine Antiques, (April 1935) reprinted in Robert F. Trent edited Pilgrim Century Furniture, (New York, Main Street/ Universe Books, 1976), pp. 122-125.
Philip Zea, The Great River: Art and Society of the Connecticut Valley, 1635-1820 (Hartford, CT, 1985), cats. 78, 79, pp. 198-201.
Susan Prendergast Schoelwer, Connecticut Sunflower Furniture: A Familiar Form Reconsidered, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (Spring 1989), pp. 26-29.
Robert F. Trent entry, American Furniture with Related Decorative Arts, 1660-1830: The Milwaukee Art Museum and the Layton Art Collection, (New York: Hudson Hill Press, 1991), pp. 37-39.
Gerald W.R. Ward, American Case Furniture, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 1988), pp. 90-95, 379-385.
Martha H. Willoughby, From Carved to Painted: Chests of Central and Coastal Connecticut, c. 1675-1725 (M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, DE, 1994), pp. 14-76.
Joshua W. Lane and Donald P. White III, Fashioning Furniture and Framing Communities: Woodworkers and the Rise of a Connecticut River Valley Town, American Furniture 2005, ed. Luke Beckerdite, (Milwaukee, WI: Chipstone Museum, 2005), pp. 146-238.
Frances Gruber Safford, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: I. Early Colonial Period: The Seventeenth Century and William and Mary Styles (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007), pp. 219-224.
Rob Tarule; Thinking in the Wood: Carving a Sunflower Chest, New England Antiques Journal, (June 2008).
