A CHIPPENDALE CARVED WALNUT CHEST-ON-CHEST

An exceptional survival of virtuoso carved ornament, this chest-on-chest displays the talents of an unidentified but highly accomplished craftsman. Carved into the façade of the drawer rather than applied, the tendrils on the shell drawer are atypical, as are the shell’s pronounced lobes with overlaid acanthus-leaf carving. Such details suggest the work of an individual who trained out of the mainstream artisanal community in eighteenth-century Philadelphia.