Chest of Drawers

Description

Red-painted pine. Two banks of eight drawers, for a total of sixteen drawers. The drawers are lipped; each has two birch knobs. Bone keyhole escutcheon on drawer on top, proper right. Plain molding nailed to top. Four feet, 6 1/2" high, slightly angled.

Notes

Non-Shakers have long marvelled at how function dictates form and decoration on Shaker furniture. Only one decoration on this 16-drawer case lacks tacit connection to its storage role, the plain molding nailed to the top. All other forms and embellishments answer directly to the function: the drawers are arranged in two rows and occupy the entire height and width of the case, the case is elevated off the floor by feet decorated with a slight taper, the decorative red paint seals and protects the pine, and the bone inlay on the top left drawer forms an escutcheon. This case of drawers communicates some fundamental attributes about Shaker religious belief and daily life. Aside from its expression of Shaker craftsmanship, the uniform size and egalitarian arrangement of the drawers speaks of the communistic nature of a Shaker family. The Shakers believed that women and men were equal in the eyes of God, and they sought to eliminate overt symbols of hierarchy among members of the same family. Clothing, worship, rituals, and graveyards are among the areas affected by Shaker notions of equality. The communal spirit pervades in the taking of meals, the sharing of profit, and the division of chores. Furnishings were considered property of the family and were often used as such. On this piece of furniture, drawers would have been assigned to different individuals without hierarchy, save for the locking drawer. Like a long dining table, a meetinghouse pew, or a compartmented school-desk, this case embodies that community, equality, order, and frugality that are central to Shaker religion.