This is a provincial high style linen press, probably Lancaster County or Bucks County, that looks to Philadelphia with its impressive pediment and construction. This linen press retains its original finials, according to Alan Miller, and are of good size and well developed. I sent this piece to Alan for a condition report and for going through it for good housekeeping.
The Swan’s neck pediment is adorned with dental molding and large rosettes. The upper case has magnificent tombstone panels. The lower case has a traditional split drawer arrangement. In many ways, this linen press looks like a secretary and–if one could imagine–with modification to the top drawers and a reduction in the depth of the uppercase it could be a secretary.
Alan found “no alterations or repairs and in a fine state of color” he also remarks that “high style 18th century linen presses are rare and rural examples from this area can be numbered in one’s fingers.”
Needless to say, I had to have this Colonial linen press when it came up. Linen presses are generally not very inspired, but this one has it it all. Sometimes when I pass by and look at it, I think it is a secretary. So, if I had to have one linen press, let this be it.
I acquired this linen press about 15 years ago. It descended in the family of Chester Beach who was a nationally recognized sculptor. It was obviously a treasured piece.
—
Alan Miller calls this “high country furniture of considerable style,” … “looking toward Philadelphia”. It’s definitely Anglo, not Germanic, and is a very rare form. In fact, we weren’t able to find others that were true Chippendale like this, which almost looks like a secretary. The walnut has a beautiful aged color, and the feet are nice and chunky. This piece is a true
rarity and for many years, was among the furnishings of Oldwalls, the home of sculptor Chester Beach.
Furniture Examination Report July 12, 2010
Alan Miller
Antique Furniture
Consultant
Representation at auction, brokering, authentication, research, and restoration
2315 Township Road
Quakertown, PA 18951
610 346-8938 fax 610 346-7830 / alanmillerantiques@verizon.netA Pennsylvania or neighboring state rural walnut linen press owned by Stanley Weiss. Stanley Weiss shipped a walnut rural linen press to my shop for research and restoration. This is a genuine piece of antique furniture in good condition with most of its original component parts surviving in a fine state of color, surface, and finish. Its ornaments, brasses, and hinges were replaced. Most of one rear foot face was a patch and there were other small loses and minor damages. It is constructed in the anglo woodworking tradition-no Germanic construction details are present-looking to Philadelphia for style inspiration. It was likely made no more than one or two counties away from that city, although that still leaves four states-Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland-as possible origins, what furniture historian John Snyder calls inland furniture. Urban eighteenth century linen presses are rare and rural examples from this area can be numbered on one’s fingers. I know of no cognate for this press with its removable scroll-molded architrave and cornice in the Philadelphia manner of the 1770’s through 1790’s, scrolled and molded center tympanum console, raised arch-panel doors, and ogee bracket feet, so I turned to other furniture forms-particularly clock cases-for clues to its origin and the design of its missing ornaments. Clock cases are particularly useful because they are plentiful, ambitious, and easy to place in a locality because of maker’s signatures. Despite considerable effort, I could not locate a clock case or other furniture form that had a scrolled molded console that seemed to be by the maker of this press and also retained its original finials and rosettes so that we could quote those ornaments for this press. I feel most comfortable with a regional attribution to southern or central Bucks County or the English settled areas of what is now Delaware County and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The use of Atlantic white cedar, chamaecyparis thyiodes for the drawer bottoms limits the western range of origin as this wood was of costal, costal river, bogs, and river plateau wetland origin. I chose finials and rosettes associated with a cabinetmaker who apparently began working in central Bucks County and ranged to eastern Montgomery County before relocating in the Easton/Northhampton area. Either this maker or his influence later moved to anglo areas of central Pennsylvania. This finial, with its wide urn and spire, is not only apparently regionally appropriate for the press but also supplies necessary horizontality to the pediment with its widely spaced scroll moldings. This model finial is always accompanied by this rosette, with its turned button-like center and radiating alternating convex and concave petal-like elements. Various versions of this simple rosette were used throughout rural Pennsylvania and surrounding areas.
The original brasses for the drawers of the press were bails and rosettes with wide post borings. These were replaced with poor quality plates with narrow post spacing. We did not return the drawer brasses to the original scheme because the later plate borings and witness for the plates would have been distractingly visible unless this witness were removed and that process would have harmed the surface of the drawers to an unacceptable degree. Sacrificing the old finish just doesn’t seem justifiable. I located original plate brass that fit the smaller later boring and mostly covered the witness from the later plates. This brass was in common use in rural Pennsylvania in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century-it is the original brass used on painted blanket chests with original painted nineteenth century dates. We made plexiglass patterns of the pull plate and escutcheon two per cent oversize to allow for shrinkage when the sand cast plates cooled. Dave Mitchell did the foundry work and Philip Ruhl in my shop made the patterns and did finish and aging work on the plates after casting. Clear witness of the original H-hinges remained on the press cabinet doors and stiles and we obtained Optimum hinges from Londonderry that exactly matched the witness of the original hinges’ outlines and screw locations.
I did the research for the ornaments described above, drew the chosen models, and managed the restoration. Philip Ruhl turned the ornaments, carved the rosettes, added missing dentals, and did various small repairs. The foot face and other patching, brass and hinge installation and all color and finish work were done by Keith Lackman, a remarkable craftsman unsurpassed in accuracy and subtlety in finish work. Much of the visual success of this restoration is the result of his effort. This press is a very rare example of high country
furniture of considerable style and I feel it merits the best restoration available. It was a pleasure to be involved with it.Alan
Miller
July 12, 2010
Revised Aug 19, 2025, 12:40 PM