A Queen Anne cherrywood bonnet-top high chest of drawers, Connecticut, probably Glastonbury area

retains a dark historic surface; appears to retain its original finials and a majority of its original hardware. upper tier of drawers rebuilt and restored 

retains a dark old surface; secondary wood is chestnut and white pine; hardware on upper tier of small drawers replace; small drawers rebuilt; appears retain its original finials, upper drawers on upper case cut in half then rebuilt to for four drawers
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

With its imaginative decorative vocabulary, claw feet, double shells, graceful bonnet and arcaded apron, this high chest of drawers relates closely to the group of Glastonbury furniture identified by Thomas Kugelman, Alice Kugelman, and Robert Lionetti in Connecticut Valley Furniture: Eliphalet Chapin and His Contemporaries, 1750-1800 as the Isaac Tryon Group, so named for a high chest of drawers in a private collection signed by its Glastonbury maker, Isaac Tryon (1742-1823) and dated 1772.¹

Furniture associated with Tryon's shop displays a combination of characteristics drawn from Colchester, Wethersfield and Middletown and three case pieces with key features of his shop have been identified. These include a bonnet-top high chest in the collection of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, a bonnet-top chest-on-chest-on-frame at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, and a desk-and-bookcase at the Yale University Art Gallery.² A high chest of drawers formerly owned by Henry Wood Erving that was sold in these rooms, Important Americana, January 19-21, 2007, sale 8278, lot 357 also appears to represent the same shop tradition.

This high chest differs from the Tryon group pieces in its shallow bonnet, two short drawers flanking the central shell-carved drawer of the upper case, and lack of carved rosettes, rope-turned columns, and carved knees. It appears to have been made by a cabinetmaker familiar with the established shop practices of the Tryon shop but probably working elsewhere.

Sotheby's would like to thank Thomas and Alice Kugelman for their assistance with the research for this lot.

¹ See Thomas Kugelman and Alice Kugelman with Robert Lionetti, Connecticut Valley Furniture, Hartford, 2005, pp. 326-33. The high chest signed by Tryon is illustrated as cat. 150 on pp. 327-8.
² See ibid, cats. 151-3, pp. 329-3.