This is a commanding full blown bonnet top highboy with two very large fan carvings, one in the upper case and the other in the lower case. Similar to Boston/Salem highboys, this example incorporates fluted pilasters that flank the drawers which give it a sense of importance and stylistic refinement.
A related secretary appeared in a Christie’s auction, October 1984 no.401. Further, Leigh Keno, an active antique dealer at the time, also illustrates one in a full page ad in Antiques Magazine, Dec. 1997, and is closely related with pilasters that terminate in the same unusual way as our highboy.
I acquired this grand highboy in 2009 from Christie’s because it was also in wonderful condition with its original brasses and finials. It was at the end of my short dealer/collector period and was the type of clean material that represented us and didn’t need excuses for imperfections and or losses. I remember Nathan Liverant comparing an antique to a diamond, “What are the flaws?” and this piece had none and was what I would consider “good property.”
There is much use of white cedar used in this secretaries interior construction as well as more of a Boston construction style according to Brock Jobe, a great scholar of New England furniture. Nevertheless, the consensus is Connecticut, especially with its unquestionably original Connecticut style finials. Further artisans did move around New England where they could set up shop and avoid competition in Boston.
The bottom line is this is a piece without flaw issues, and it is what it is: a full expression of the Colonial highboy.
Height: 88 1/2 in. Depth: 20 in. Case Width: 38 1/2 in. Overall Width: 42 3/4 in.
Revised Aug 25, 2025 11:51AM