Perhaps the earliest example of Boston furniture in the Museum's collection, this is a full-fledged chest of drawers, an innovative form rarely made in America before 1690. Exotic tropical hardwoods in its construction and decoration include ebony for the turned spindles in the upper case and cedrela (and local black walnut) for the facade and sides of the upper and lower cases. The use of woods imported from far away reflects the participation of Boston's craftsmen in international trade as early as the mid-seventeenth century.

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