Blanket chest

1775-1825

Measurements

19-3/4 in x 50-1/4 in x 21 in

Materials

Unidentified resinous pine

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation

Accession Number

1961.500.1

Condition Notes

The till inside the chest has been removed.  The left cleat on which the chest stands is a replacement. 

Provenance

The chest was purchased in 1961 from Mrs. W. Edward Wright of Wilmington, Delaware.  In a letter to Odessa curator Horace Hotchkiss dated February 5, 1961, she stated that the “old blanket chest . . . formerly belonged to the Vandergrift family” (who lived in Odessa).

Comments

The six-board chest, dovetailed at the corners, is painted a dark "barn" red.  It has a one-board lid with a scratch-bead across the back and is attached with iron strap hinges.  The cleats nailed to the underside of the lid at each end are triangles with very shallow sides of equal length--a shape not encountered in early American examples.  The chest bottom is made of two boards slightly feathered along the edges on the outside bottom.  It stands on two rectangular cleats set in a few inches from the side edges--another uncommon American feature.  The left cleat is a replacement.

The chest originally had a till inside on the right side.  Channels cut for the till side and bottom remain, as does the hinged end of the lid, which had been round-tenoned into the case sides.  Channels also indicate the one-time presence of a drawer below the till compartment.