Images(4)

Clothes Press

Period1780 - 1810

MediumBlack walnut (by microanalysis), sweet gum, and white pine

Dimensions78.75 × 19.75 in. (200 × 50.2 cm)

ClassificationsStorage Furniture

Credit LineGift of Robert L. Holmes, 1954

Object number2017.708

DescriptionA clothes or linen press in two parts. The upper section includes a boldly molded cornice above a pair of doors with double arched raised panels flanked by reeded pilasters. Two fixed shelves divide the interior. The lower section has three graduated drawers with thumbnail molded edges and pairs of brass bail handles above four straight bracket feet.

Curatorial RemarksMany clothes presses found in the central part of New Jersey have reeded pilasters, such as those that flank the doors on this example. Straight bracket feet of this type are also found frequently, not only on clothes presses but also on chests of drawers. The brass hinges on the upper case doors are original, but the brasses on the drawers are not. The original pulls were probably wooden knobs.

Collections