Polychrome Hadley Chests

Recently I have been interested in learning more about a certain style of furniture that was made in the Pioneer Valley where we live. I visited Historic Deerfield in May and stumbled upon a carved Hadley Chest. I was immediately taken by the design in the carving primarily because the motifs in the carving were reminiscent of those that I like to use myself. These chests were made in the 1600's and there are not that many that survive. 

Although I don't have photos of the Historic Deerfield carved Hadley Chest I do have some of the one at Memorial Hall in Deerfield. 

Once I started looking into the Hadley Chests, I discovered that there were some that were "Polychrome." Just by the name, I knew I had to look into them and see what they were all about. At first I looked on my friend Google and found this video. 

Then I discovered that there was a Polychrome Chest in the collection of Memorial Hall which is only 20 minutes from our farm. One day this May, I drove down to see it. There it was in all its glory. I spoke to one of the curators and he told me that the chest featured in the above video had been sold at Christie's in January of 2016 went for $1,025,000 (including the buyer's premium). Amazing. 

This is the chest that is at Memorial Hall. It looks like the paint decoration was probably touched up because it is more colorful than the 3 others that survive. Here is the one that is at the Henry Ford Museum and there is also one at Winterthur. 

Here are some detail shots of the Memorial Hall Polychrome Hadley Chest. I hope to incorporate some of the motifs in a project in my upcoming book. I love the geometric simple graphic quality of the motifs. 

I love that way back in the 1600's they used motifs that look so modern. How about the "Target logo"?

So as they say, nothing is new. Everything has been done before! 

Here is another article you can read about the Polychrome Chests from Hadley, Massachuestts.