Miniature chest of three drawers
Miniature chest of three drawers
Odessa, Delaware
Probably Janvier shop
7-5/8 in x 9-3/4 in x 6-1/4 in Mahogany, probably kingwood; white pine (all secondary woods)Historic Odessa Foundation
1975.31“Doll Clothes” is in pencil on the inside bottom of the middle drawer, and “47” in pencil is in the bottom center of each drawer cavity.
The ball feet have been covered with a red pigmented paint; traces of black paint remain on the foot bottoms. Three small pieces of veneer from the case around the drawer cavities have been replaced.
History of ownership in the Janvier family, ex coll. Miss Margaret Janvier Hort
The mahogany crotch veneers on the drawer fronts suggest a time of manufacture in the 19th century. Saw-marks, specifically those left by circular saws, indicate a date after 1820. More interesting than the figured veneers, however, are the thin veneer strips applied to the case edges around the drawers. They are not mahogany, nor are they rosewood, a rarer hardwood that decorated some furniture from that time. Instead, this wood may be kingwood, related to rosewood but exhibiting different color and grain patterns.
Zimmerman, A Storied Past, 108.