Chest

William Searle|Thomas Dennis

1663–80 · White oak, red oak · The American Wing

The richest and most vigorous early colonial carving is that associated with the work of William Searle (1634–1667) and Thomas Dennis (1638–1706) of Ipswich. Paired leaves, with a naturalistic, three-dimensional quality rare in American furniture of the period, dominate the panels of this chest; the panels are carved in the popular seventeenth-century design of a stalk of flowers and leaves emerging from an urn, of which only the opening is indicated here. Searle and Dennis came from Devonshire, England, where a tradition of florid carving, using many of the motifs seen on this chest, flourished in the early seventeenth century.

Artist

William Searle|Thomas Dennis

Date

1663–80

Medium

White oak, red oak

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1909