There is strong indication that in New York, where the Dutch influence was largely felt, the chests were not in general of the carved and panelled varieties in use in the English colonies. The inventories in New York, although they show a large number of chests, make very sparse mention of oak or wainscot, and we have been unable to find any chests surviving among the Dutch families that are of oak carved or panelled. A collector who has made systematic search among the Dutch towns along the Hudson River tells us that only one oak chest was found, and that of a well-known Connecticut pattern. Dutch chests were, so far as we can ascertain, largely made of pine and often painted; the finer ones were of black walnut.

Figure 15. Oak Chest with one drawer, third quarter seventeenth century.

The opinion prevails very generally among students of the subject that almost all the chests belonging to the first half of the seventeenth century were made without drawers. This opinion is largely based upon the fact that the chests without drawers which have come to light are carved in designs known to be early, while chests having drawers are, the majority of them, decorated with the designs of later date, or are on the panelled order, which, generally speaking, is of later origin than carving. The use of drawers, however, was certainly well known in the early part of the seventeenth century, for chests of drawers are mentioned at Plymouth as early as 1642. The first mention we have found in the inventories of a chest with a drawer is at Salem in 1666; after this time the item "chest with a drawer" or "with drawers" is frequently met with, and by far the larger number of chests which have survived are made with one or two drawers.

In England the chest seems to have passed from the chest with one drawer, or with two drawers side by side, to the pieces with the shallow chest with doors below concealing drawers, and from that it was but a short step to changing the shallow chest into the drawer, making a cupboard or a chest of drawers with a top which could be used to place things upon. In America, on the other hand. the development was to add two or three drawers below the chest proper. The latter was continued with about the same depth, the result being that the piece became higher and higher. The development from the three-drawer chest to the chest of drawers made the piece lower by substituting a single drawer of perhaps a third of its depth for the chest part, thus making a four-drawer chest of drawers.

Oak Chest with one drawer, third quarter seventeenth century.

The drawers on pieces dating before 1700 are almost invariably on side runners; that is, the sides of the drawers at about the centre are channelled out and a piece of wood which is fastened to the frame slides in this channelling forming the drawer runner.

Figure 15 shows a chest with one drawer in the Bolles Collection, belonging to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The top rail is carved in an entwined lunette design with a fleur-de-lis in each opening, and the front drawer is carved in a semi-classical design. On the stiles and rails, other than the top rail, are inlaid bands of dark wood. The panels are each carved in a lozenge-shaped design with four circles.

A nicely carved chest with one drawer is shown in Figure 16 and is the property of Mr. H. W. Erving. The top rail is carved in a very good foliated scroll design. The stile separating the two panels is carved in a single foliated scroll design, and the design on the panels is formed by two foliated scrolls, one above the other. The front of the drawer is in the same design as the panels, except that the scrolls are drawn together to fit a narrower space. The outer stiles are plain.

A handsome carved chest with two drawers, which is in the same collection, is shown in Figure 17. The upper rail is carved in the familiar lunette design. The four panels are carved in a palm design and the drawer fronts in a design of alternating large and small circles with carved rosettes. The stiles throughout are finished with grooving, such as was common on the chests of the period. The dimensions of the chest are as follows: Length 50 inches, width 19 1/4 inches, height 36 1/2 inches.

Figure 17. Oak Chest with two drawers, 1660-75.

A two-drawer chest owned by the writer is shown in Figure 18. It is of light-coloured American oak, the top, bottom, and back being of pine. About fifty chests in this design have been found in Connecticut, some with no drawers and others with one and two. The design, while not wholly new, is a combination of older designs, forming a somewhat original whole, and such chests are generally known as of the Connecticut or sunflower pattern. The outer panels are each carved in a design of a conventional flower, possibly a tulip with two leaves below on each side of the stem. The centre panel is carved in a design of three flowers suggestive of the aster with leaves. On the stiles are applied split spindles, and on the panelled drawer fronts and panels of the ends are applied turtle-back bosses. The chest is large: Length 47 3/4 inches, width 22 inches, height 39 1/4 inches. This style of chest, it will be seen, is a combination of the carved and panelled chests.

Figure 18. Oak Chest with two drawers, 1675-1700.

Figure 19. Oak Chest with two drawers, 1675-1700.

Figure 19 shows a chest which is the property of the Connecticut Historical Society. The rails, stiles, and drawer fronts are carved in a beautiful design of tulips. The outer panels are carved in the same design as those shown in the preceding figure, while the centre panel, which has chamfered corners, shows a single aster at the centre with foliated radiates, terminating in the same flower very much smaller that appears on the end panels. The chest has top, drawers, and back, all of oak, somewhat unusual in New England made pieces, but it undoubtedly was made there, for the wood is American oak, and the person making it must have been familiar with the so-called Connecticut chest pattern.