Rare & Important American Shaker Tall Chest New Lebanon, New York, Circa: 1820 The free spirited Brown sisters are well known in Shaker scholarly circles, as they befriended the remaining Shaker sisters at Mount Lebanon, New York in the 1940''s, often taking weekend jaunts to visit and share picnics with them and usually returning home with Shaker artifacts. Upon their death, the majority of their collection was willed to Winterthur Museum, serving as a foundation for its collection of Shaker furniture. A number of pieces remained in the family, the most important of which is this rare Shaker tall chest. It remains in a remarkable state of original preservation and is one of the earliest surviving examples of the Shaker tall chest form. The applied bracket base is indicative of an early date of construction and is a feature found and shared more commonly on the tall chests produced at Watervliet, New York Shaker community which is its sister community just across the Hudson River. There was constant communication and an exchange of Shaker craftsmanship between both Shaker villages. It has wonderful scale, classic form, well thought out proportions, graduated drawers, moulded edges inside and out, and lovely dovetailed construction. Golden reddish brown mellow rich patina. Constructed primarily with pine with its original hardwood knobs and original oxblood stain which greatly enhance the importance of this rare form of American Shaker craftsmanship. Height 70 1/2 inches, Width: 39 1/2 inches, Depth: 19'' Provenance: Margaret, Pauline and Helen Brown, Rye, New York Gwen Longbotham, Columbus, Ohio, grand niece; Thomas C. Queen, Columbus, Ohio Drs. John R. Ribic & Carla M. Kingsley Shaker Collection Mark Reinfurt - Equinox Antiques & Fine Art - Manchester Village, Vermont

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