THE REVEREND RICHARD BOURNE JOINED OAK, maple and PINE CHEST with drawers, Plymouth County, Massachusetts circa 1690

Lid and till replaced and lacking several moldings. Several applied moldings restored.  Feet have lost approximately three inches in height and now fitted with casters.



The underside of the lid bears a silver-plated brass plaque engraved: This Old Chest belonged to Richard Bourne-of- Sandwich/Barnstable Country/ In the Province of Massachusetts Bay In- 1637- Taken to Rochester. Massachusetts by his grandson John Bourne -1699- inherited by his son in law/ Charles Sturtevant of Rochester. Mass. -1759- and by his son Charles Sturtevant, Jr –of- Rochester. Mass. -1809- presented by his daughter/ Martha Sturtevant Randall/ to her son/ Charles Sturtevant Randall of New Bedford, Mass. -1851- inherited by his grandson Randall Clifford -1904 -



Inscribed in drawer- CSRandall /New Bedford 1847

According to the plaque attached to lid:
Reverend Richard Bourne (c.1610-1682);
John Bourne; Rochester, Massachusetts;
Charles Sturtevant, Rochester, Massachusetts;
Charles Sturtevant Jr., Rochester, Massachusetts;
Martha Sturtevant Randall;
Charles Sturtevant Randall, New Bedford, Massachusetts;
Randall Clifford;
Sotheby's New York, Important Americana: Furniture, Folk Art, and Decorations, October 15, 1999, sale no. 7350, lot 90.

Sotheby's New York, Important Americana: Furniture, Folk Art, and Decorations, October 15, 1999, sale no. 7350, lot 90.
Peter Follansbee, "Unpacking the Little Chest", Old-Time New England 78, no. 268 (Spring/Summer 2000), pp. 17-19, figs 13-15.

The secondary wood is white pine; drawer pulls replaced; interior compartment in all drawers varnished; central drawer runner replaced; back is varnished as well. The following are replacements: the lid, the till body, all of the glyphs except for the two glyphs flanking the keyhole (at the time of this report, three of the replacements are missing), the molding within the flanking panels, most of the flat plaques, the molding on the drawer fronts, the knobs on the drawers, all of the small pilasters except for upper central and upper right facing pilasters, and all of the drawer runners except for the left facing drawer runner. The uppermost serrated molding (beneath the lid) appears to be original.
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.

Information about the town of Sandwich is scarce, but the descent of the Bourne family is known. Richard Bourne died in 1682; while none of which were described in detail, his probate inventory included several chests: "One chest with the linen in it £7 one chest with clothing in it £7; Old chests, cases, bedsteads, tools & other household lumber £2." [See Helen Bourne Joy Lee, The Bourne Genealogy (Chester, Connecticut: The Pequot Press, 1972.) Richard Bourne's inventory is in Plymouth Colony Probate Records 4:2.

Of all the variants of the so-called "serrated moldings" school of joined chests and cupboards made in southeastern Massachusetts during the seventeenth century, the rarest is the large chest with two tiers of side-by-side drawers. The inventory of the estate of Ephraim Little of Marshfield, dated November 24, 1717, provides some comparison between two-drawer and four-drawer chests: "1 Old Chest with 4 draws £1 an Old Cubberd £1-5; an Old Chest with two draws 8s." Ephraim Little was born in 1650 in Marshfield, the son of Thomas Little, joiner (c.1608-1671/2), who came to Plymouth about 1632. Thomas Little's inventory, taken April 4, 1672, includes "New joinery worke unfinished" at £10-03-00 and "Tooles in the shopp" at £1-10-00. [For Ephraim Little's inventory, see Plymouth Colony Probate Records, 4:113-115. For Thomas Little's, see Plymouth Colony Probate Records 3:46-7. For notes on the Little family, see Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995) 2: 1189-1192.]

Only three examples of joined chests have survived with four drawers: a heavily-restored chest at the Peabody-Essex Museum converted to a cupboard by Henry F. Waters about 1890; the Storrs family chest at Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum and the present lot. The Matthews family chest in the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities collection now missing its drawers, was originally a four-drawer chest.

These four-drawer chests all have or have had a central panel with two suspended arches and a pendant. The applied moldings and turned decoration are inspired by the London style joinery of Boston. The appearance of the Bourne family chest confirms a Cape Cod origin for this shop tradition. The present town of Bourne on Cape Cod was named for this family.

For additional information please refer to Peter Follansbee, "Unpacking the Little Chest", Old-Time New England 78, no. 268 (Spring/Summer 2000), pp. 5-23, Robert Blair St. George, The Wrought Covenant: Source Material for the Study of Craftsmen and Community in Southeastern New England 1620-1700, (Brockton, MA: Brockton Art Center, 1979) and Brian Cullity, A Cubberd, Four Joyne Stools & Other Smalle Thinges: The Material Culture of Plymouth Colony, (Sandwich, MA: Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, 1994).