Chest over Drawers1825–184040 × 42 1/4 × 18 1/4"Paint on woodGift of Jean Lipman in honor of Cyril Irwin Nelson1994.5.101535802052Artist unidentifiedFurniture/FurnishingsThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster20051United StatesThree Dimensional WorkseMuseum - Collection HighlightsThis chest over drawers belongs to a small group of furniture virtually identical in construction with similarly turned legs. What truly unites the group, however, are the motifs in the exuberant painted decoration. The patterning on this chest over drawers, often called vinegar painting, was achieved by rolling putty with a little oil and a glaze containing vinegar. The rolled putty was stamped onto the glaze, and as the glaze dried the oil and vinegar separated, creating a seaweedlike appearance. The extravagant patterning appears random but is in fact highly organized, and used it creates an Adam-like reserve on the top panel with rayed corner fans. The panel has a combed border on four sides and an inner border of four corner quarter-fans that are strung together by a narrow, abstract rope motif; the reserve is filled with an overall leaf-like pattern.
The drawer fronts are also highly organized, with large rayed medallions carefully placed in a symmetrical composition. In places the medallions span two drawers, the design crossing from one surface to the other. Some of the medallions overlap slightly, lending a three-dimensional quality to the “spinning” disks. The framing throughout is picked out in thick vertical stripes, and the side panels are painted in an unrelated manner. It is not known where these chests were made or decorated, though they have been ascribed to North Brookfield, Massachusetts, and Westmoreland, New Hampshire.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Chest over Drawers," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 326.http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster20051http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster20051http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster2005118251840 1994 5 1 This chest over drawers belongs to a small group of furniture virtually identical in construction with similarly turned legs. What truly unites the group, however, are the motifs in the exuberant painted decoration. The patterning on this chest over drawers, often called vinegar painting, was achieved by rolling putty with a little oil and a glaze containing vinegar. The rolled putty was stamped onto the glaze, and as the glaze dried the oil and vinegar separated, creating a seaweedlike appearance. The extravagant patterning appears random but is in fact highly organized, and used it creates an Adam-like reserve on the top panel with rayed corner fans. The panel has a combed border on four sides and an inner border of four corner quarter-fans that are strung together by a narrow, abstract rope motif; the reserve is filled with an overall leaf-like pattern.
The drawer fronts are also highly organized, with large rayed medallions carefully placed in a symmetrical composition. In places the medallions span two drawers, the design crossing from one surface to the other. Some of the medallions overlap slightly, lending a three-dimensional quality to the “spinning” disks. The framing throughout is picked out in thick vertical stripes, and the side panels are painted in an unrelated manner. It is not known where these chests were made or decorated, though they have been ascribed to North Brookfield, Massachusetts, and Westmoreland, New Hampshire.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Chest over Drawers," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 326.