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2004-19, Chest
Sugar chest
2004-19, Chest

Sugar chest

Date1800-1820
Possibly by
Possibly by
OriginAmerica, North Carolina, Randolph County (possibly)
MediumBlack walnut, tulip poplar, white pine, yellow pine, maple; iron and brass.
DimensionsOH: 35 3/4"; OW: 32 1/2"; OD: 19"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number2004-19
DescriptionSugar chest on stand with two drawers. CHEST: Walnut front outlined with light wood stringing; front dovetailed (half-blind) to walnut sides, sides dovetailed (half-blind) to tulip poplar back; tulip poplar bottom nailed to bottom of front, sides, and back; walnut top hinged at back with moldings nailed around front and side edges; interior of chest divided by two tulip poplar vertical equi-distant partitions held in dados in front and back; replaced escutcheon; chest sits on top of stand's legs and is held in place by glue blocks joining bottom of chest to sides of stand back and front rail. STAND: Walnut sides and yellow pine back tenoned into walnut legs, pegged; legs inlaid with light wood stringing in geometric pattern, taper at feet; drawer blades double tenoned into legs; drawer supports nailed to battens between legs; overhanging angled molding nailed to top of legs, sides, and front. DRAWERS: walnut drawer fronts with wooden knobs, maple cross banding mitered at corners, and applied cock bead; dovetailed tulip poplar drawer sides and back; drawer bottom chamfered around front and sides, slid into dado in drawer sides and front, nailed to bottom of drawer back; inset escutcheons.Label TextThis walnut and tulip poplar sugar chest may be a relatively rare Piedmont North Carolina example of the form. Created for the storage of sugar with three sections within the chest for white sugar, brown sugar, and coffee, most examples of this form are from Tennessee or Kentucky. An almost identical example was sold in the estate of a Raleigh, North Carolina family along with blanket chest 2011.2000.1 that was originally owned by Mary Jane Pearson Angier (1820-1906) of Durham, North Carolina. It is possible that the sugar chest descended in the family along with the blanket chest, but unfortunately that history is unsubstantiated. The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts owns a table (5939.2) with related string inlay that was originally owned in nearby Randolph County, NC by Jane Wood (1802-1827). Believed to have been the work of cabinetmaker Anthony Chamness or his apprentice Zebedee Wood, the close relationship of the string inlay designs suggests that the sugar chests may also have been made by the same craftsman who created the table.ProvenancePurchased by Milly McGehee for Colonial Williamsburg from Neal Auction Company, 4038 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 17115.