Some Devon carved chests

Looking at some details

First - some updates from recent posts. I picked a name out of the hat for that book on Chester Cornett - Michael Davis-Cheshire. MDC, send me your address…any others still hoping to learn about Chester’s chairs, the same author, Michael Owen Jones, wrote the book Craftsmen of the Cumberlands. Worth searching out…

Today at 8pm eastern time is the end of my carved box auction. Right now, there’s one bid at $1,500. That’s the only box this season. I’m carving a few more quartersawn oak panels and have one Jennie Alexander style ladderback chair that I’ll finish this coming week. Anyone interested in the chair or ordering a panel, email me at Peterfollansbee7@gmail.com

Now - onto the blog post. I’ve been carving some of my favorite designs - those from Devon, England and Ipswich, Massachusetts. As it happened, at the same time a friend sent me a link to an auction of a Devon chest - here in New England. It’s a lousy photo, but - beggars can’t be choosers. This one has its original lid, complete with a molding under the front edge of the lid that is then carved.

Lots of intact paint on this one. Now if only someone would analyze that pigment to tell us what paint was used there.

I thought this one was actually new - not newly-made, but new in the sense that I’d not seen it before. The muntins and center panel are found in many versions - but that top rail is distinctive as are the stiles, with their full height indicated by the pattern near the foot.

That sprockety-shape on the left and right panels reminded me of a chest photo I had in my photos/files. Turns out it’s the very same chest! All I had before is one detail shot - I have no recollection of shooting this and my note-taking at that point was lackadaisical. The file is labeled “English chest detail color slide” - but it’s this chest for certain.