ANTIQUE QUEEN ANNE PENNSYLVANIA WALNUT DOVETAILED BLANKET CHEST WITH RAT-TAIL IRON HINGES
With our absolute highest compliments Bay Colony Antiques takes the utmost pleasure in presenting this exceptional antique blanket chest. Originally this chest was required to hold a families assortment of various quilts, blankets, garments, and coverlets during the summer months of the year. During the cold winters every stitch of fabric was vital for keeping warm to avoid sickness so having an airtight storage solution that secured the contents from pests destroying the entire households inventory of textiles was of the highest importance. A single home could have need of several quality blanket chests which were often placed at the foot of the beds kept in the largest bedrooms. Since blanket chests occupied such prominent spaces in the home they became increasingly grander in quality and design with the finest known examples having been built during the mid to late 18th century.
The blanket chest we now proudly offer is a choice walnut example made for a home in Pennsylvania during the height of the Queen Anne period. The hallmarks of a typical Pennsylvania chest are always found in the quality of construction. These blanket chests are known for being "over-engineered" or in other words built to standards which far exceed the actual requirements necessary to create a long lasting box. The exterior dovetail sets that join the chest together are not just masterfully crafted but are by all regards nearly perfect in their execution. The craftsman who made this blanket chest chose to make obvious that this creation was a labor of love and that they had spent a lifetime devoted to their trade, reaching the heights of artistic capability in cabinet-making. The top of the chest is built with batten ends that are secured to the primary top boards with mortise and tenon joinery that is pegged together locking the various components together and guaranteeing the integrity of the chest for the indefinite future.
The top of the chest opens to reveal an interior fitted with a candle till that contains two primitive wooden drawers. Two wrought iron rat-tail form hinges allow for the top to easily open and shut with an iron hasp that drops into the fitted iron lock making the chest inaccessible without a key. The iron hasp automatically engages the lock so we elected to err to caution by taking the hasp off so that way if the key should not properly throw the lock fully there is no chance of sealing the box shut inadvertently. The chest retains the original iron escutcheon plate that is secured to cover up the keyhole. We note a small repair from when the box was once locked shut and had to be forcibly opened. The chest features finely molded elements spanning the top and base of the exterior. Four scallop scrolled bracket feet serve to elevate this piece with intricate pegged joinery providing additional strength around the base. The back and underside of the chest reveal centuries of undisturbed natural oxidation to be expected on a box with such considerable age.
This antique blanket chest measures 46 1/4" wide x 22" deep x 22 3/4" tall. The chest has slightly smaller dimensions at the base measuring 45 1/2" wide x 21 3/4" deep.
