Chest of Drawers

1800/10

Attributed to Langley Boardman
American, 1774–1833
Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Although the serpentine front and bracket feet of this chest recall the Rococo style of the previous century, the string inlay, the use of contrasting veneers, and the style of the stamped-brass drawer pulls clearly place this chest in the neoclassical or Federal style. Boardman brought this style to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, after having apprenticed in Salem, Massachusetts, an important cabinetmaking center in Federal America. The chest retains much of its original finish and all of its original brass hardware.

Status: On View, Gallery 168
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Langley Boardman
Title: Chest of Drawers
Origin: Portsmouth
Date: c. 1800–1810
Medium: Mahogany, oak, eastern white pine, and brass
Dimensions: 90.2 × 110.5 × 59.7 cm (35 1/2 × 43 1/2 × 23 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Restricted gifts of Mrs. Eric Oldberg, Timm R. Reynolds; restricted gift of Edmund J. Doering II in honor of Mrs. Eric Oldberg; R.T. Crane Jr., Memorial Fund
Reference Number: 1994.536
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“Chicago’s Art Institute Lists Recent Acquisitions,” Antiques and The Arts Weekly (July, 1995), 80.
Eleanor H. Gustafson, “Museum Accessions,” Antiques 147, 5 (May 1995), 656 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 117–19, no. 44.

With Sotheby’s, New York, N.Y., by 1994; with Peter Sawyer, Exeter, New Hampshire, 1994; sold to The Art Institute of Chicago, 1994.

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