Joined Chest, 1670—1700

Oak
Lent by a private collection
This wonderfully preserved and elaborately carved chest was made by Thomas Dennis, who came to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from the West Country of England in the late 1650s and moved to Ipswich in 1663. This example has three front panels filled with S-scrolls, rather than the frond-head motifs seen on most Dennis chests. It retains its original red painted decoration.
Square Joined Table, 1680—1700

Oak and maple
Lent by a private collection
The Symonds joiners made tables with sharp-edged reel turnings on the posts and stretchers. These are executed in maple and were quite fashionable by English standards. Reel turnings were introduced in England in the 1660s. A number of upholstered chairs by the Symonds have these turnings. A second-generation joiner of the tradition, Samuel Symonds (1638—1722), trained the son of the Rev. Joseph Capen to be a joiner about 1700. Capen was the original owner of the chest of drawers in this exhibition. Symonds made the ten-foot pulpit of Capen’s meetinghouse in 1682.
Cupboard, 1870—80

Salem, Massachusetts
Oak, maple, pine, tulip poplar, and sycamore
Lent by Ipswich Historical Society, Gift of Madeleine Appleton Kidder
This cupboard was purchased from Henry Fitz Gilbert Waters by Daniel Fuller Appleton (1826—1904), the wealthy proprietor of the Waltham Watch Company. Fuller was the perfect Waters victim. He was a descendant of a prominent colonial family, but he did not own any family heirlooms. He had reassembled the family farm in Ipswich by buying the land back from many owners, but he had to build a new house on the property. The cupboard is made of riven oak and water-sawn sycamore to simulate the genuine cupboards. Despite this care, Waters surprisingly failed to assemble the two cases correctly, which is a giveaway that the cupboard is not genuine.