The Lewis Family Very Fine Queen Anne Carved Cherrywood Bonnet-Top High Chest of Drawers, Eli Lewis, Stratford, Connecticut dated 1784

Appears to retain original finials, drops, and brass hardware plates.  Inscribed on side of drawer in lower case: This chest of drawers was made for Helen Lewis Birdseye / my great-grandmother by her Uncle Eli Lewis in 1784. / She was born in 1761 + died in 1856. / Her husband Thaddeus Birdseye / was born in 1753 + died in 1800. / Helen Curtis Webster / Original written in pencil. Traced in ink / for preservation in 1946. / Dorothy Webster Carter.

Descended through the Lewis family

Edward S. Cooke Jr., "Craftsman-client relations in the Housatonic valley, 1720-1800," The Magazine Antiques, vol. 125, no. 1 (January 1984), fig. 10, p. 278.
Discussed in Edward S. Cooke Jr., Making Furniture in Preindustrial America: The Social Economy of Newtown and Woodbury, Connecticut, (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), p. 153.

Retains a dark, old, re-finished surface; drawer runners of upper case restored; the secondary wood is poplar; brass posts and nuts of hardware are replaced.
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.

The Lewis Family high chest is an important surviving document of Housatonic river valley craftsmanship.  Made by Eli Lewis of Stratford, Connecticut, it survives in remarkable condition retaining its original finials, drops and brass hardware.  Edward Cooke, the leading scholar on Housatonic valley furniture, was the first to publish this high chest in his Magazine Antiques article "Craftsman-Client relations in the Housatonic valley, 1720-1800."  In his article, Cooke postulates that Lewis likely worked in the same workshop as Brewster Drayton also of Stratford.  A high chest in the collections of Winterthur Museum is signed and dated by Brewster Drayton and has a remarkable outward relationship to the current high chest (see Nancy E. Richards and Nancy Goyne Evans, New England Furniture at Winterthur: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods, (Winterthur, DE: Winterthur Museum, 1997), no. 166, pp. 323-6 and Edward S. Cooke, Jr., "The Work of Brewster Dayton and Ebenezer Hubbell of Stratford, Connecticut", The Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin, 51, no. 4 (Fall 1986), pp. 197-224).  Interestingly both pieces were made in 1784.