Images(2)

Chest of Drawers

Date1790-1815

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Norfolk

MediumMahogany, tulip poplar, yellow pine, light and dark inlay, and brass

DimensionsOH: 38 ½”; OW: 43 ½”; OD: 10 5/8”

Credit LineGift of Catherine Egelhoff

Object number2024-248

DescriptionAppearance: Mahogany veneered bow front chest of drawers; overhanging top with square edge with lightwood string inlay on top and bottom edges of top edge around front and sides; four graduated inset drawers each with lightwood string outlining edges of drawer fronts and oval tripartite light-dark-light wood string inlay with astragal ends ornamenting drawer, and oval stamped brass keyhole escutcheon and oval brass drawer pulls; all over a tripartite string inlay around base, splayed French feet and a shaped serpentine skirt; interior of drawers stained with a red wash (not original).

Construction: Sides half blind dovetailed to two top battens and one top front rail veneered in mahogany and to the yellow pine bottom board; mahogany veneered yellow pine drawer blades in dados in case sides, with mahogany veneer over front edge of sides covering joint, with yellow pine drawer supports screwed to sides behind drawer blades; 3 vertical tulip poplar backboards with outer two boards chamfered and lapped by rabbet in front face of center board; backboards nailed in rabbets in sides, along rear edge of bottom board, and to rear edge of rear top batten; thin mahogany top board with mahogany veneered yellow pine boards framing front, sides, and rear, screwed from below into top battens and top rail; solid mahogany feet supported by two flanker (tulip poplar?) glue blocks screwed into underside of case with vertical quarter round (tulip poplar?) block below; front and side skirts formed by mahogany veneered yellow pine (sides) and tulip poplar (front) secured to case bottom with small yellow pine glue blocks; Drawers: standard dovetail construction; side to side bottom board chamfered along front and sides of bottom in dados in same, nailed to underside of drawer back. Drawer front veneered over horizontally laminated yellow pine front.
Label TextThis chest of drawers descended in the Talbot family of Talbot Hall, Norfolk, Virginia and was likely made by a cabinetmaker in that region.

The majority of colonial Norfolk furniture was made by British immigrants or Virginia artisans trained in the British style. That changed after the Revolution as furniture and furniture makers from New York, Philadelphia, and New England began to arrive in large numbers. Most locally made cabinet wares soon took on a decidedly northern appearance. The shift in taste was facilitated by the fact that few of the city's established cabinetmakers returned after the war. It was reinforced by wartime destruction that had left Norfolk "a vast heap of Ruins and Devastation."

Despite these changes, the Norfolk cabinet trade experienced a minor resurgence of British influence by the end of the century, affecting both construction and design. This bow front chest of drawers follows English designs, as do its New England counterparts, but has applied drawer runners, a construction choice more often found in northern American construction than British. The astragal end dark inlaid banding around the drawer fronts is more commonly seen in British than American design of this period.
MarkingsStenciled in white paint: “T. TALBOT” inside drawer bottoms and on back of chest.
ProvenanceDescended in the Talbot family of Talbot Hall, Norfolk, VA to Caroline Brackenridge Talbot [1925-2024] (Williamsburg, VA); 2024, given to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).