Chest of Drawers 1800 - 1815

This chest of drawers was made in the United States out of wood, but we don't know exactly when. The style of the drawer fronts, with their serpentine curves, suggests that the creator was responding to European fashions, and the overall form and choice of wood indicate a certain level of wealth and social standing. It’s interesting to consider this object in light of what we know about the material conditions of its production. How did slavery as an institution enable certain classes of people to amass wealth and commission objects like this? Where was this wood sourced, and by whom? Who made the brass drawer pulls and who assembled the piece as a whole? As historians, these are some of the questions we might ask as we delve deeper into the social and institutional histories that this seemingly simple chest of drawers can illuminate.