High Chest of Drawers

1755–85

Attributed to John Goddard
American, 1723–1785

Along with Philadelphia and Boston, Newport, Rhode Island, was one of the three leading furniture-making centers in colonial America. Newport benefited from its location on coastal trade routes between England and the West Indies, and its merchants were among the wealthiest and most influential figures in the colonies. The finest Newport furniture came from the Goddard and Townsend shops, whose most notable pieces were completed before the Revolution. This high chest is attributed to John Goddard. Goddard’s marriage to the daughter of Job Townsend joined the two families, beginning a virtual furniture-making dynasty that remained active into the following century.

Status: On View, Gallery 167
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: John Goddard
Title: High Chest of Drawers
Place: Newport (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1755–1785
Medium: Mahogany with chestnut and white pine
Dimensions: 219.4 × 101.6 × 54.6 cm (86 3/8 × 40 × 21 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Helen Bowen Blair Fund
Reference Number: 1989.158
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/74072/manifest.json

Donald R. Sack Magazine Antiques 135, 5 (May 1989), 1016–17.
Marvin D. Schwartz, “It’s Growing! Chicago’s American Wing,” Antiques and The Arts Weekly (June 29, 1990), 1, 76–78 (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), 78–79, no. 22.

Donald R. Sack, Buck Hill Falls, Penn., by 1989; Marshall Field V, Chicago, 1989; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1989.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.