Bonnet-top high chest, walnut w/ yellow pine and poplar secondary wood. Pegged frame and panel construction. A bonnet top broken arch pediment surrounds the tympanum with a central round, concave shell carving. Large orb finial on plinth centered within broken arch. Upper section has five graduated drawer sections consisting of three small drawers over two drawers over three long single drawers, all cock-beaded with bail brasses and escutcheons. Pulls not original; ghosting visible of original brasses. Quarter columns have wide chamfers with double fluting.
Upper chest rests on stepped-out lower chest having one long drawer flanked by two small ones and two more small drawers below these. Cutout apron at bottom. Very wide chamfered & fluted quarter columns. Cabriole legs with trifid feet and stocking detail.
Make is unknown.
Lancaster County, probably Churchtown area
Provenance
Chest originally belonged to the Old family, prominent ironmasters of Lancaster and Berks Co. It may have been owned first by James Old (1730-1809) or one of his children. The chest later passed from Miss Harriet Old to the Hopkins family at Conowingo Furnace, Drumore Twp., Lancaster County.
Overall abrasions, scars and small losses of wood. 4" crack in pediment, left of finial. Significant grouping of gashes 4"x 3" spanning 2nd & 3rd level drawers, at left. Entire front of top chest detaching from sides. Piece at top of left stile, under cornice, is broken & poorly repaired. Deep horizontal 7" crack on left side of base unit. Vertical crack entire length of right side of top. 1 12" long gouge on stile of right front leg. White flecks on right front leg. Brasses tarnished with some rust.
Object ID
P.78.76
Notes
Exhibit label information:
John J. Snyder, Jr. suggests many points of similarity with a Q.A Phila. highboy owned by diarist Christopher Marshall who brought chest along with him when he moved to Lancaster Co. "on the eve of the Revolutionary War." (Winterthur collections). This chest may have inspired the design of the Old chest.
Wide fluted chamfered corners similar to a Q.A. secretary (G.03.1.1) formerly owned by the Jenkins family of Churchtown. Similar to a case of Geo. Hoff clock w/ brass face, and similar to casework by some Phila. and Maryland cabinetmakers.
Snyder notes that cockbeaded edges on drawers suggest a later date than expected (c. 1770-1790). This type in Phila. was being made c. 1740-1760.
Place of Origin
Lancaster County
Usage
Old family
Credit
Gift of James Hale Steinman Foundation, Heritage Center Collection
Chippendale high chest, mahogany, ornately carved, Phila-inspired Rococo style. Top section has scrolled broken arch pediment with central cartouche (attrib. to Phila carver, Martin Jugiez) and fully relief-carved vine tympanum, leading down to large central drawer w/ large carved shell & surrounding vines. Two small drawers flank center drawer, under which are 4 full-length, graduated drawers with original Chinoiserie brasses. Fluted corner columns on upper case; vine & leaf-carved corner columns on lower case.
Lower chest has top full-length drawer over 3 small drawers that mirror the 3 drawers at top. Again, the center drawer is fully carved. Below drawers is a fully vine-carved skirt w/ shaped bottom. Has 4 carved fully articulated cabriole legs w/ acanthus knees and ball and claw feet and original brass casters.
Original owner Matthias Slough was a colonel in the Rev. War, a superintendent of the Philadelphia to Lancaster Turnpike, a county coroner and treasurer, and tavernkeeper of the White Swan. Buried in St. James Episcopal Cemetery.
Made by unknown Lancaster Borough workshop.
Provenance
Original owner believed to be Mathias Slough, based on a 1934 letter from Ethel Torrington Davis to Mr.(James?) McCormick. Ms. Davis states her mother received story from her mother Mrs. Beatty. Mathias Slough married Mary Gibson and had three daughters. The oral tradition is that each daughter was given a high chest. These chests then descended in the family, one of which descended through the mother of Ethel T. Davis to James McCormick (in payment of an outstanding debt). This info researched by John J. Snyder.
From a July 1975 letter, donor George J. Finney recalls the highboy in the home of James McCormick of Hbg, his grandfather. After his death in 1917, it stayed with the house & his son Donald McCormick until his death in 1945. It was then put up for sale at auction of household good but failed to sell due to price not meeting expectations of executors. Donor learned of this, and in 1946 he offered to buy it for $2,500 and the estate accepted. Donor has owned highboy since 1946. Upon the death of the donor, it was bequeathed from his estate.
Multiple repairs (e.g. pieced out around drawers); refinished; some losses, most noticeable in some cartouche elements and leaves of rosettes. Finials missing the ball at mid section. Cosmetic conservation done by Cory Berrett April 1992.
Repairs made 12-2-09 by Winterthur conservator in consultation with curator Wendy Cooper (see conservation report in file). Major changes: broken off rosette leaf tips replaced; missing finial balls and top plates of plinths replaced.
Object ID
G.92.06
Notes
John Snyder states that mahogany is unusual for Lancaster Co. high-style pieces. Secondary woods are poplar and pine.
He notes six or fewer high chests of this Lancaster County Chippendale design are known to exist, and that of these six, "this piece is unquestionably the finest example." (Based on artistic evaluation, condition and provenance. Of these other chests, 2 are in private collections, one is in the State Department collection at Yale University, and the others' whereabouts are currently unknown.
Snyder says this high chest is closely related structurally to the famous Chippendale desk and bookcase acquired by the Winterthur Museum from the Withers family, living near Strasburg, Lancaster Co.
OBITUARY
May 14, 2009 FRANCES DAVIS HASSINGER EVERHART, of Lower Allen Township, Mechanicsburg, PA, passed away Thursday, May 14, 2009, in Bethany Village, Mechanicsburg. Frances was born March 1, 1916, in Harrisburg, PA, the daughter of CARL W. AND ETHEL TORRINGTON DAVIS. She was a 1938 graduate of Vassar Co...
Matthias Slough (1733-1812) was the tavernkeeper of the White Swan. The high chest was made at an unknown Lancaster Boro workshop, except for the carved cartouche of Philadelphia.
Place of Origin
Lancaster
Credit
Heritage Center Collection, bequest of George J. Finney Estate
Bowfront mahogany veneer chest of drawers in the Hepplewhite style. Four drawers have progressing depths from the top to the bottom, each with overpressed drawer pulls two per drawer. At the top center of each drawer is a brass escutcheon keyhole. The top of the chest and each drawer are decorated with satin wood inlay. Chest is supported at its base by four french feet which feature a slightly outswept bracket foot combined with a valence skirt.
Provenance
Dr. Alexander Speer (James Buchanan maternal cousin)
The present practice of the Court of King's Bench : containing ample and complete instructions for commencing and defending the various kinds of suits and actions, entering up judgement, suing out execution, proceeding in error from the King's Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer Chamber, and Parliament, &c., and calculated not only to guide the attorney in the course of his practice in cases already settled, but also by pointing out the rise and ground of the various proceedings, and the several cases in each already adjudged, to enable him by analogy to conduct any new matters that may occur : containing rules of court down to Michaelmas Term, 1784, and enriched with a number of very curious and special precedents of the various writs, pleadings, entries, &c. in use in the Court of King's Bench : and particularly of declarations, a great number of which are very special, and settled by the most eminent pleaders : to which is added a complete index
The trials of George Robert Fitzgerald, Esq. and Timothy Brecknock, for the procurement of James Fulton and others, for the murder of Pat. Ran. M'Donnell and Charles Hipson : also the trial of John Gallagher and others, for an assault on Geo. Rob. Fitzgerald, in the Gaol of Castlebar ... : together with a description of their conduct at the place of execution : taken from the notes of a gentleman : likewise an address from the high sheriff and grand jury of the county of Mayo to the lord lieutenant, and his answer thereto
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Journals of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Beginning the twenty-eighth day of November, 1776, and ending the second day of October, 1781. With the proceedings of the several committees and conventions, before and at the commencement of the American Revolution. Volume the first
Journals of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Beginning the twenty-eighth day of November, 1776, and ending the second day of October, 1781. With the proceedings of the several committees and conventions, before and at the commencement of the American Revolution. Volume the first
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"Errata."--Verso of last leaf.
First three pages after title page partially covered by cuttings from the Philadelphia Sunday Courier. Other cuttings partially or totally removed from pages 31-59 resulting in faded of text.
Evans,
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Journal of the first session of the Senate of the United States of America : begun and held at the city of New-York, March 4th, 1789, and the thirteenth year of the independence of the said states
The modern practice of the High Court of Chancery : methodized and digested in a manner wholly new : interspersed with variety of the most approved and modern forms of practical precedents incidental to every suit in the progress of it, from the original bill to the decree, comprising a system of practical knowledge, according to the course of the Court as at present established
Minutes of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania : which commenced at Philadelphia on Tuesday the twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eight-nine, for the purpose of reviewing, and if they see occasion, altering and amending the constitution of this state
Bound with Minutes of the proceedings of the convention of the state of Pennsylvania...fifteenth day of July 1776 - Minutes of the convention of the commonwealth of Pennsylvvania...twentieth day of November 1787...Philadelphia: Hall and Sellers, 1787 - Minutes of the grand committee of the whole convention of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania..twentieth-fourth day of November, 1789 - Index to the journal of the convention who framed the present constitution...Philadelphia: John Bioren, 1808.
Minutes of the first session of the thirteenth General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania : which commenced at Philadelphia, on Monday, the twenty-seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight
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First session of the Thirteenth General Assembly (p. 1-50) -- Second session of the Thirteenth General Assembly (p. 51-207) -- Third session of the Thirteenth General Assembly (p. 207-306) -- First Session of the Fourteenth General Assembly (p1-114) -- Second session of the Fourteenth General Assembly (p. 115-280) -- Thhird session of the Fourteenth General Assembly (p. 283-302) -- Journal of first session (p. i-x11, 3-397) -- Statement of the public accounts (p. 398-433).
Minutes of the fourth sitting of the fifth General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania : ss²b which met at Philadelphia on Monday the twenty-third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred eighty and one
Signature of Edward Bird on two internal title pages.
Book number 12 as assigned by Yeates
One-half leather with marble papers; Title in gold on maroon leather.
Contents
Fourth Sitting of the Fifth General Assembly (p.476-562) --Second session of the Fifth General Assembly (p. 563-650) -- Report of the Committee of the Assembly ... (p. 1-50) -- Third session of the Sixth General Assembly (p. 651-712) -- First session of the Seventh General Assembly (p.713-780) -- Second session of the Seventh General Assembly (p.781-883) -- Third session of the Seventh of the General Assembly (p.885-986) -- First session of the Eighth General Assembly (p.-1-82) printed by Hall and Sellers, Philadelphia -- Second session of the Eighth General Assembly (p. 85-252) printed by Hall and Sellers, Philadelphia -- Third Session of the Eighth General Assembly (253-361, 1-3) printed by Hall and Sellers, Philadelphia -- First Session of the Ninth General Assembly (p. 1-103) printed by Francis Bailey, Philadelphia -- Second Session of the Ninth General Assembly (p. 105-328) printed by Francis Bailey, Philadelphia.
Minutes of the third session of the ninth General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania : which commenced at Philadelphia, on Monday, the twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five
One-half leather with marble papers; Title in gold on maroon leather.
Contents
Third session of the Ninth General Assembly (p.329-402) -- First session of the Tenth General Assembly (p. 1-160) -- Second session of the Tenth General Assembly (p. 161-272) -- Third Session of the Tenth General Assembly (p. 273-336) -- First session of the Eleventh General Assembly (p.1-114) -- Second session of the Eleventh General Assembly (p.115-198) -- Third session of the Eleventh General Assembly (p.199-250) -- First session of the Twelfth General Assembly (p.1-98) -- Second session of the Twelfth General Assembly (p. 99-200) --Third Session of the Twelth General Assembly (201-280)
Laws enacted in the sixth General Assembly of the representatives of the freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania : at the sitting which commenced at Philadelphia on Monday, the twenty-second day of October, and continued by adjournment to Friday, the twenty-eighth day of December, A.D. one thousand seven hundred and eighty-one
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Debates of the Convention, of the State of Pennsylvania, on the Constitution, proposed for the government of the United States. In two volumes. ... Taken ... in short-hand, by Thomas Lloyd. (Proceedings and Debates of the (Twelfth) General Assembly of Pennsylvania, etc.)
Other titles bound between pages 320 and 321 of the Debates of the convention of Pennsyvania vol 1.
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The spirit of the bankrupt laws. Originally compiled by Edward Green, Esq. formerly a Commissioner. Wherein are principally considered, the I. Declaring the party bankrupt. 2. Seizing his Estate, and summoning him to surrender. 3. Receiving Proof of the Debts of his Creditors. 4. Appointing, chusing, and removing Assignees. 5. Selling and conveying the Estate and Effects. 6. The examining and committing the Bankrupt, his Wife, and others. 7. Certifying his Conformity. 8. Dividing the Estate. 9. Ordering bankrupt his allowance, and Overplus. Which are fully discussed and explained, with the Authority and Power of the Commissioners to commit, particularly from the Determinations of Earls Hardwicke, Mansfield, and of the present Judges. Also, precedents, instructions, and a copious index
State of the accounts of Samuel Turbett, Esquire, collector of excise for the county of Lancaster; from the time of his appointment until the 24th of February, 1786
