Double Chest of Drawers with Secretary
Charleston, South Carolina, 1765-1780
Mahogany with bald cypress and tulip poplar
Catalog no. 119

The high chest of drawers, or “high boy,” was out of date in British fashion centers by 1730. It was replaced by two new forms, the clothespress, favored by Chesapeake residents, and the double chest of drawers, preferred in the Carolina Low Country. Accounts indicate that Thomas Elfe, one of many local artisans, produced nearly thirty double chests in the seven-year period 1768 to 1775. Only after the Revolution did South Carolinians gradually abandon the double chest in favor of the clothespress, a development that mimicked contemporary British trends.

Charleston double chests are modeled on British prototypes. This example, which descended in the Deas family, represents one of the more ambitious local versions of the form. The basic Charleston double chest featured a flat top with a simple molded cornice. This chest displays a cornice enriched by a wall-of-Troy molding and a “fret around,” as cabinetmaker Elfe called the sawn element just below the cornice. The top received a purely ornamental and labor-intensive “pediment head cut through” and a carved finial. The Deases also chose to have the chest fitted with brass castors for ease of movement, and they specified that the top drawer in the lower case be supplanted by “a desk drawer,” options also available in the Elfe shop. Judging from the double chest entries in Elfe's account book, the inclusion of these extra components increased the cost by about 33 percent over that of a standard model.

High-Style Goods in the Colonial Low Country

While some wealthy Charlestonians preferred furniture in the neat and plain taste, others opted for the sort of rich ornamentation found on the best urban British wares. In 1773, New England lawyer Josiah Quincy observed of Charleston:

“State, magnificence and ostentation, . . . are conspicuous among this people. . . . In grandeur, splendour of buildings, decorations, . . . and indeed in almost everything, [Charleston] far surpasses all I ever saw, or ever expected to see, in America!”

Echoing those sentiments, Eliza Lucas Pinckney observed that the people of colonial Charleston “live very Gentilie and very much in the English Taste.”

The preference for opulent, British-inspired fashions is evident in Charleston buildings, including the Miles Brewton House, built in 1769 by a highly skilled crew of immigrant British joiners and carvers. Many local furniture wares similarly display the aspiring taste of Charlestonians. In addition to the strong influence of ornately carved imported British furniture and sophisticated British design books, notably Chippendale's Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director, lofty British furniture fashions arrived directly through the immigration of talented artisans such as Abraham Pearce, John Lord, and Thomas Woodin, whose Charleston newspaper advertisements repeatedly allude to their London training.

Easy Chair
Charleston, South Carolina, 1765-1775
Mahogany with tulip poplar and bald cypress
Catalog no. 14

In most respects, this easy chair is typical of those produced in late colonial Charleston. Its construction mimics nearly every other local easy chair, and its knee carving strongly relates to work on several Charleston chairs and tables. Often thought to be inspired by Philadelphia or New York furniture-making traditions, this elaborately decorated chair instead reflects Charleston's profound socioeconomic ties to Great Britain. With a history of ownership in local families, the chair is distinguished by its cone-shaped arms and sleek lines. The identity of this chair's maker is unknown, although the account books of Charleston cabinetmaker Thomas Elfe list easy chairs with the same features, including feet carved in the shape of “Eagle claws.” The use of castors is consistent with eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century practices in both Britain and America. Wheels were especially useful on easy chairs, which were regularly moved around a room to take best advantage of the available heat in winter.