Chest of Drawers

Period1829

MediumBirdseye and striped maple, maple veneer, sweet gum, and hard pine

Dimensions41 × 44 × 22.5 in. (104.1 × 111.8 × 57.2 cm)

SignedSigned twice, once on the upper right back corner "Made by Samuel Peacock 1829" and a second time on the bottom of the left top drawer "Made by Samuel Peacock 1829."

ClassificationsStorage Furniture

Credit LineMarshall P. Blankarn Purchasing Fund, 1969

Object number1986.578

DescriptionAn Empire style chest of drawers that has a plain rectangular top with squared edges, and paneled sides. A projecting top tier of two drawers with pulvinated or convexly curved fronts have pairs of small circular stamped brass pulls. Three full-width graduated drawers below also have pairs of circular stamped brass pulls. The three full drawers, set back into the case, are flanked by turned columns atop a stepped base and four turned compound ball feet. The drawer fronts and dividers have been finished with highly figured birdseye maple veneer. A repair to the veneer appears on the upper edge of the second drawer left of center.
Curatorial RemarksThe chest of drawers represents a well documented example of simple, well crafted furniture made in the nineteenth century in many crossroads communities and small towns of New Jersey.NotesTwo inscriptions on the chest of drawers read, "Made by Samuel Peacock 1829." The young man would then have been twenty-two years old, and probably out of his apprenticeship for a year or so. Samuel Peacock was born on 7 July 1807 in Burlington County, New Jersey. He married Ester Rogers (1809 - 1892) on 19 December 1833. They became the parents of three daughters and two sons. Kirkbride's New Jersey Business Directory for 1850 - 1851 lists "Peacock, Samuel, Vincentown," under Cabinet Makers and Furniture Dealers in Burlington County. The U.S. Census schedules for 1850, 1870, and 1880 confirm that he and his family were residents of the small village of Vincentown or Southampton Township, which includes Vincentown. His trade was noted as "Cabinet Maker." The Peacock family were prominent in this area for generations, the family cemetery being located at Chairville, Southampton Township. Samuel Peacock died on 16 February 1889. He and members of his immediate family were interred in the cemetery of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in nearby Mount Holly, NJ. He is not to be confused with several other contemporary individuals of the same name who lived at various places in Burlington County and South Jersey. Additional inscriptions provide some idea of the provenance of the chest of drawers. One inside the middle drawer reads, "Stanley Hoyt April 11 [?] 1883." While there were several Stanley Hoyts living in Burlington County, two of them were born in 1884 and 1911 respectively. Another inscription on the left top drawer provides the following information, "Bought by Ad in Ad . . . [illegible] of Dr. Conrow's estate in the great town of Fairview Burlington County, N. J., 1900." It continues, "Bristol, Bucks Co, Pa / Aug. 1903." Fairview is an unincorporated place near Medford, Burlington County, and not far from Vincentown. The piece finally ended up in the hands of Carl M. Williams of New York, an antiques dealer of dubious reputation, who sold it to the Association.

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