High Chest of Drawers (or “Highboy”)
First Floor - Dining Room
Furniture and Hard Furnishings
Southwestern Connecticut or New York, 1760-1800
Cherry, whitewood; 73 ⅞" h. x 42 ¼" w. x 20 ⅝" d.
The two-part high chest of drawers has an upper case containing five
full-width graduated drawers, a projecting cornice, and fluted chamfered
corners with lambrequins at the top and bottom. Lower case stands on
cabriole legs ending in pad feet; a full width drawer over three smaller,
side-by-side drawers, the middle of which is shallower.
The decoratively undercut front skirt has a central three-lobed drop flanked
by ogees. Brasses are replacements; former holes are plugged. Drawer
linings are 3/4-inch thick, indicative of manufacture in a small town or
village. An oral history maintains that this high chest has long been in
the Mather homestead since 1933.