Most surviving joined chests with drawers from New England date to the late seventeenth century. Although the pair of large square panels at the top gives the appearance of cupboard doors, this chest actually has a lift-top opening to a deep well for storing linens and two shallower double-paneled drawers below for keeping smaller goods.
Credit: Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1909
1670-1700
Red oak, yellow pine, hemlock, white pine, poplar
91.4 x 92.7cm
10.125.33
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019
Where you'll find this
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection