This beautifully embellished blanket chest is decorated with freehand painting en grisaille, using monochromatic tones of blue-gray. During the Renaissance, grisaille work often simulated classical architectural motifs and sculpture. This chest relates to a number of Dutch-influenced kasten, or cupboards, that were made earlier in the eighteenth century, primarily in New York and New Jersey. Drawing upon the Renaissance tradition, these featured bold grisaille decoration of pendant fruit and drapery swags combined with architectural imagery of columns and arches. The massive cupboards were usually set on ball feet in the front and bracket feet in the back. This low blanket chest rests on four ball feet and exhibits similar painted imagery, though it is somewhat simplified and more restrained. Trompe-l’oeil architectural elements include columns with arched recesses between and pendants of fruit suspended on vines that pass through paterae atop each column.

Although it would seem to fall well within the kasten tradition, the chest, which is dated 1792, was painted after their period of production. It features a dovetailed construction primarily associated with furniture of Germanic origin. As a result, it has been suggested that this chest may demonstrate the exchange of aesthetic ideas and construction techniques between two strong New York cultures: the Dutch, who had occupied New York since the seventeenth century, and the Palatines, who arrived in the Hudson River Valley in 1710 and established communities in Schoharie, Mohawk, and Albany Counties by 1722.

Stacy C. Hollander, "Low Blanket Chest," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 302.