Chest-on-chest

Signed and dated on the top of its lower case, this imposing chest represents the finest furniture made in Boston toward the end of the American Revolution. Its bombé (swelled base) form and claw-and-ball feet are conservative, reflecting the Rococo style that had been popular in America since the 1750s. Its restrained line and refined carving are more closely aligned with the Neoclassical style, which would dominate taste after the war. According to family tradition, Cogswell, one of Boston's leading cabinetmakers, made this piece for John Derby, the son of Elias Hasket Derby, for use in his room at Harvard College.

According to tradition, the wealthy merchant Elias Hasket Derby of Salem and his wife commissioned this chest-on-chest from John Cogswell in 1782 for their grandson John to take to Harvard College (for another example of the Derby's commissions, see page 3.1). The Derbys purchased lavish and monumental furniture for several of their children, and undoubtedly placed the order for this piece to be in the latest fashion. Cogswell, an established and well-respected Boston cabinetmaker, fulfilled that desire with one of the most sophisticated furniture shapes made in the colonies, the bombé.The bombé shape, characterized by a swelled lower section and based upon scattered European precedents, was almost exclusively made in the colonies in Boston and Salem, Massachusetts. Unlike their peers in Philadelphia, who updated their style by adding flashy Rococo ornament to existing forms, Boston craftsmen experimented with the shape itself. Although many early bombé pieces were made of thick sides with curved exterior walls and straight inner walls and drawers, the drawers on this example follow the curve-a more elegant, but labor-intensive and costly method of construction. To create this shape, Cogswell (or a member of his shop) hollowed out the inner surface with chisels and large gouges, then extended and curved the drawer ends to exaggerate the effect. Cogswell continued to experiment with the bombé shape, and in later years maximized the sinuous motion of the form by adding undulating movement to the front of the case as well.This chest-on-chest is further embellished with carved fretwork, or borders of geometric designs, rocaille appliqué, and urn and flame finials. The latter may have been made in the noted Skillin family workshop in Boston, operated sequentially by brothers John and Simeon Skillin.Presumably proud of this piece, Cogswell signed it boldly on the top of the lower section: "Made By John / Cogswell in midle Street / Boston 1782." As the only known work with his full signature, this chest-on-chest serves as the benchmark for attributions to this innovative colonial craftsman.This text was adapted from Ward, et al., MFA Highlights: American Decorative Arts & Sculpture (Boston, 2006) available at www.mfashop.com/mfa-publications.html.