benjamin bagnall, sr. British, active in Boston, Massachusetts, 1689–1773
Tall case clock 1730–1745 Walnut, maple, beech, cedar, brass, glass, and paint 98M × 21 7/* × 10½ in. (250.2 × 55.6 × 26.7 cm) The Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ross Perot, 1985.B.4
Tall case clocks were a luxury few could afford in Boston in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Benjamin Bagnall, Sr. seems to have been the only clockmaker with a thriving business in the early 1700s. Bagnall was responsible for creating the most costly part of the clock, the clockworks. The case was made by an unidentified local cabinetmaker. This eight-day striking clock closely follows English design and is extremely rare, representing the pinnacle of clockmaking when the craft was in its infancy in the British colonies.
boston, massachusetts High chest of drawers c. 1700–17 25 White pine, maple, walnut, and brass 64 1/* × 40 1/* × 22 3/* ( 162.9 × 101.9 × 56.8 cm) Gift of The Eugene McDermott Foundation in memory of Helen Ulmer Van Atta, 1993.30.a–b
This high chest of drawers is an exceptional example of early American furniture in the William and Mary style. Unlike most furniture of the previous century, this chest is decorated with thinly cut veneers that reflect the change that occurred in English court fashion following the accession of Charles II in 1660. Although these continental influences were slow to reach rural England and the American colonies, cabinetmakers in urban centers such as Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were working in the taste by 1700. The high chest, a novel form in the late seventeenth century, was usually accompanied by a matching dressing table. They would have been displayed together in the best room, a mark of wealth and distinction in early colonial America.
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