Featured Connecticut "Sunflower" Chest

Where is here?

 

You're right MOS, the rich get richer! usually but, i manage to steal a piece every now n then, just enough to keep my interest up! So, i got THAT goin for me!

 

the "pilaster" bed is authentic amish made... and named so in amishland and in canada. is it the "fancies" bit that bothers you? its just easy to say and covers many architectural aberrations.

 

Alex, a pilaster is a whole "other thing" than a bed post, just sayin.....

Definition of pilaster


: an upright architectural member that is rectangular in plan and is structurally a pier but architecturally treated as a column and that usually projects a third of its width or less from the wall

Illustration of pilaster

 

Are you just mucking up my thread because you got nothing else to do or, what's goin on over there, wherever there is?

 

I concur with James, but I will say that I have heard and used the term in regard to furniture, but only when the bit in question was actually shaped like a pilaster. Regarding the posts n the bed, here they would be called reeded posts.

Just noting differences in terminology - none are right or wrong!

 

i am not trying to muck up your thread. what they are called should be meaningless but you carry on. i was simply pointing out that they are in 2 pieces. if you can find that ever done again great. something unique can set off an alarm or lull you into thinking you have a treasure. the fact is many many people made them. good makers, bad makers and any yahoo that had parts and could.

 

Good luck on your bidding James. It would be so nice to see it go to someone who is such a connoisseur. Have you published? And yes, I agree 100% , the proper definition of a pilaster , in the architectural sciences, is strictly reserved for a column, vertically cut in half, with a flat back. It makes no sense to me to use it to describe a full round column or spindle.

 

I had NO CLUE what in the world he/she was trying to say here, it was total gibberish to me and, the pilaster thingy just made it worse.

Of course i was correct!

 

One does not need to be versed in old furniture terms to get a point across, how about
"in the center of the drawer, the 2 black/ebonized decorations are seperated"
easy to understand & one of the first things i noticed about the chest. Easily explained as well, they are obviously replaced & the restorer made them/ordered them to large for the drawer so he cut them. Poor restoration but not a big deal really to fix.
You start talking "fancies" & "pilasters" and i am gonna get lost in a hurry.

 

Here is a pic i got today that better shows what he/she was trying to say. Note the drawer pulls as well, replaced and not very attractive either.

 

Are you saying the applied turnings on the bottom drawer don't match the applied turnings on top portion or is something else different? Should the applied turnings match? I got the part about the drawer pulls being replaced, though I don't know how you determined this. I want to develop an eye for how to see these things, and if you would be so kind as to explain a little more. Oh I got it, the applied turnings in the middle should have been smaller?

 

It seems to me the issue is: are these little nubbins part of the drawer decoration?


It looks to me as if those elements extend below the drawer as well:


Is that unusual? Was it standard practice to have those elements sized to fit entirely within the height of the drawer?

 

We are on the same page, I think

 

This thread is confusing as ... I'm going back to jewelry.

 

Yes, whoever replaced those ebonized spindles did a poor job, they are to large for the drawer so he cut the top of spindle off and glued to the case. main body of spindle is on drawer and nubbins, lol, are on case.
If you notice on main case, the large turned spindles on far left & right are very poor turnings and do not match the others on case.

Look at this chest and the ebonized turned spindle decoration, this is how it should be, whoever replaced those applied turned spindles did a very poor job on chest for sale. Also if you notice on drawer, those round black "bosses" on either side of drawer pull, totally missing on chest for sale.

Agrees! once you start using sloppy language you go down these dead end cul de sacs and very tough to recover!

 

Well, in addition to being ugly as sin, look at this pic from auction website, notice anything? like that modern screw on inside of drawer holding drawer pull on?

 

These ebonized turned decorations are simply glued on case front and drawer and, often on case sides as well. They are almost always replaced or missing altogether on furniture this old. Since they are not structural, fairly easy to correct, ditto drawer pull.

 

And, Skinner has a sunflower chest for sale this month, August 11. Great provenance, once owned by Lillian Blankley Cogan, an esteemed dealer of Americana and one of the grande dames of antiques collectors.
https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/3278M/lots/8

Estimate is 30-50k