Very Fine and Rare Chippendale Highly Figured Mahogany Serpentine-Front Chest of Drawers, Attributed to Jonathan Gostelowe (1745-1795), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Circa 1785

Starbuck Macy family, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;

Israel Sack Inc., New York, 1968

Israel Sack Inc. advertisement, Magazine Antiques, (May 1968);

Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture, (New York: Crown Publishers, 1993), p. 100-1. Illustrated as a "Masterpiece".

Israel Sack Archive, Yale University Art Gallery, acc. no. 2775.

With its sculptural serpentine façade, fluted canted corners, and broad chamfered ogee feet, this chest follows the form of chests made by the Philadelphia cabinetmaker, Jonathan Gostelowe (1745-1795), who labelled two nearly identical chests.¹ This chest is made of a vibrantly figured mahogany which is enhanced by the original brass hardware similar to that found on the labeled chest at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It is illustrated as a “Masterpiece” in The New Fine Points of Furniture by Albert Sack, who notes that “the rich crotch figured of the top becomes even more remarkable when it is realized that the top is hewn from a solid board.”²

Jonathan Gostelowe apprenticed to the Philadelphia joiner, George Claypoole Sr. (1706-1770) during the late 1750s and early 1760s.³ The use of fluted chamfered corners and bold ogee feet for his chests are details learned by Gostelowe in the Claypoole shop.⁴ On July 12, 1762, Gostelowe acknowledges his receipt of £2.19 “in full of all accounts for my master George Claypoole.” For the design of these chests, Gostelowe was inspired by furniture patterns illustrated by Thomas Chippendale in The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker’s Director (London, 1762, p. LXIX). The feet follow the design of the base of the baptismal font made in 1788 by Gostelowe for Christ Church in Philadelphia where he was married the next year. He likely made chests of this type until 1793, when he advertised the contents of his shop for sale.⁵

A very similar chest attributed to Jonathan Gostelowe is in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery.⁶ This chest was according to tradition made by Gostelowe as a gift for his second wife, Elizabeth Howell (Towers) (d. 1808) on the occasion of their marriage on April 19, 1789.⁷ Another related chest of this form, attributed to Gostelowe, is in the collection of Winterthur Museum. Another attributed to Thomas Jones is in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg.⁸ Other chests of this type sold in these rooms at The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lammot Du Pont Copeland, January 19, 2002, sale 7757, lot 248 and Important American Folk Art, Furniture and Silver including the Gary Gold Dinner Service, May 19, 2005, sale 8097, lots 232 and lot 255.

¹ One chest is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art is illustrated in Alexandra Kirtley, American Furniture, 1650-1840: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art (New Haven and London, 2020): no. 110, p. 138. The other chest is in the collection of Cliveden and illustrated by William M. Hornor in Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture (1935), pl. 107 and 108.

² See Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture (New York: Crown Publishers, 1993), p. 100-101.

³ Andrew Brunk, “The Claypoole Family Joiners of Philadelphia: Their Legacy and the Context of Their Work,” American Furniture 2002, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Hanover and London, 2002), pp. 167-170.

⁴ ibid, fig. 29, p. 169 for a chest with fluted canted corners and ogee feet attributed to George Claypoole, Sr. and George Claypoole, Jr.

⁵ Deborah Federhen, “The Serpentine-Front Chests of Drawers of Jonathan Gostelowe and Thomas Jones,” Magazine Antiques (May 1988): 1174-1183.

⁶ Gerald Ward, American Case Furniture in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University, (New Haven, 1988), no. 66, pp. 146-148.

⁷ ibid, provenance, p. 147.

⁸ Joseph Downs, American Furniture, (New York, 1952), no. 178.