Chest of Drawers (no. 614)

Item

Title

Chest of Drawers (no. 614)

Creator

United Crafts

Date

1902-03 (ca.)

Dimensions

61 1/2 x 45 x 23 1/2 inches

Medium

Oak, replaced cedar, copper hardware

Object No.

1995.47

Credit line

Anonymous Gift

Marks

Shop mark (decal) on back.The cabinet is extensively marked with impressed numbers that correspond to the drawer placement. From left to right, and top to bottom, the underside of drawer faces are labeled 1 and 2, then 1 through 3 (for the large drawers). An identical mark appears on the vertical inner face of the case, on the outside edge for the smaller drawers and along the right hand side for the larger drawers. The upper cabinet doors are similarly marked with corresponding impressed numbers on the case edge and the side of the doors by the hinges.

Description

This chest of drawers is a bit of an enigma. The model number and overall dimensions appeared in a catalog as a line drawing dated January 1902 but with a different drawer configuration and hardware. None of the extant examples of the model—including those in the Two Red Roses collection, one that sold at Sotheby’s in 2005, one in a private collection, one that sold at Heritage Auctions in 2008, and two that sold at Toomey & Co. in 2019 and 2020—feature the configuration illustrated in the line drawing, suggesting it was either a precursor to this model (as David Cathers has posited) or a design that had not been fully worked out. In addition, although the catalog specified “Red Scented Cedar Drawer Bottoms,” this example (and the others) have fully lined cedar cabinets on top and oak drawer bottoms.

The limited production of this model is evident by the rarity of known examples and the short duration of production. By 1905, when Stickley published his Cabinet Work From the Craftsman Workshops: Catalogue D, the model number had been assigned to an unrelated library table.

Provenance

Gustav Stickley (by 1903); sold with the contents of Craftsman Farms in 1917 to George and Sylvia Farny; by descent to Cyril Farny; private collection (1992); Craftsman Farms Foundation (1995).