By Emily Vieyra-Haley, Bowne House Educator and Ellen Spindler, Bowne House Collection Volunteer, with research assistance by Charlotte Jackson, Bowne House Archivist
The Bowne House is a historic landmark built in 1661, located in Flushing, Queens. It is the oldest surviving house in this borough, as well as the second oldest in New York State. Upon entering the original room of the Bowne House, known as the 1661 room, one piece of furniture which immediately catches the eye is the high chest along the far wall. It is estimated to have been built in Flushing between 1700 and 1725 and is made of red gum. Standing over five feet tall, the upper portion contains three long and three short drawers, while the lower portion has three short drawers fitted with brass handles and escutcheons.
William and Mary High Chest
A high chest (also known as a highboy) is a low set of wide drawers with another, narrower set of drawers set on top. Highboys were popular in England and in early eighteenth-century America and, like the Dutch-style cupboards known as kasten, were often used for storing clothing and linens. The Bowne House highboy was made in the early Baroque or William and Mary style, named after the Dutch-English monarchs William and Mary of Orange, rulers of England from 1689–1702. “Elaborate turnings, carvings in high relief, severe curves, large unified shapes, and contrasts of color” are hallmarks of this style as described in Butler and Johnson’s Field Guide to American Antique Furniture.
Detail of a brass handle and escutcheon; Attribution: Stefan Dreisbach-Williams
from the William and Mary High Chest
Highboy in the Bowne House, c. 1899
(Bowne House Archives)
According to decorative arts specialist Dean F. Failey, former director of the East Hampton Historical Society and former curator of the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, few New York William and Mary high chests survive, but several existing examples have three drawers across the top of the chest similar to this one, an arrangement not usually found on New England examples. In addition, Failey notes that the “combination of two deep side drawers in the lower section, a broad mid-section molding, and a light cornice molding also appears on two high chests associated with western Long Island or New York City.”
As with many prized pieces of furniture passed down from generation to generation, this one has many tales to tell. There are conflicting anecdotes as to the commission of the piece. Family tradition holds that the chest was a gift from fellow Quaker William Penn’s daughter Letitia to John Bowne’s daughter Hannah, in honor of her 1691 marriage to Benjamin Field. This initially seemed plausible in that John Bowne and William Penn are known to have been both friends and business partners. This narrative, printed in Country Living in December 1992, dated the piece to 1695. However, it must be noted that the highboy, given its style, was more likely created between 1700 and 1725, after John Bowne’s death. Information in our archives indicates that it may have been crafted by Samuel Clement (ca. 1685–post 1760). Dean Failey describes Samuel as active as a woodworking artisan between 1715 and 1726.
Samuel’s father James Clement (ca.1640-1725) was an indentured servant to John Bowne. John Bowne entered into a contract of indenture with him for six years on May 30, 1663, when John was in the Netherlands pursuing his appeal to the Dutch West India Company. On June 9, 1663, John Bowne wrote a letter to his wife Hannah alerting her that James would be preceding him home. Some scholars have suggested that the Clements were of French Huguenot ancestry, but family history and new research suggests the family originated in England. James, who served as both town clerk and as a cabinetmaker-joiner, clearly passed on his skills to Samuel.
High Chest at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
(Winterthur Museum Collections)
The Winterthur Museum has a nearly identical high chest in its collections with an inscription on the front of the backboard showing that it was made by Samuel Clement in 1726. The inscription states, “This was made in year 1726 by me Samuel Clement of Flushing June.” The text of the signature may have been Samuel’s assertive declaration of artistic attribution distinct from his father James, who had died the previous year. This high chest was actually appraised by Samuel Clement in 1760 when it was still in the inventory of its original owner, a member of the Quaker Lawrence family in Flushing.
Samuel’s signature in the inscription has been verified as matching his 1760 appraisal handwriting, placing the Winterthur high chest in the very small group of signed or labelled American William and Mary style furniture. According to Dean Failey, it is a “key piece of furniture in establishing the existence of a talented school of New York and western Long Island cabinetmaking.” Winterthur’s records confirm that the high chest was originally owned by the Lawrence family of Flushing. Additionally, Dean Failey has attributed two other almost identical examples in private collections to James or Samuel Clement. This lends credence to the possibility that either Samuel Clement or his father crafted or assisted with the Bowne House highboy.
Samuel Clement inscription on High Chest at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
(Winterthur Museum Collections)
Highboy with figures in period costume, c. 1957 (Bowne House Archives)
During one of the most recent assessments of the highboy by the Museum Advisory board, a thorough examination revealed that the drawers had not been opened for some time, for when they were, the Board found that the illustrious highboy had most recently been fitted and used to store cutlery! This explains its location in the dining room. Such resourcefulness, with a Quaker ethos of thrift, and familial sense of history and legacy, have perhaps been reasons why so many Bowne family possessions still survive to this day. The highboy is now serving another purpose: educating visitors about more than three hundred years of history at the Bowne House.
Sources & Further Reading
Butler, Joseph T. and Kathleen Eagen Johnson. Field Guide to American Antique Furniture: A Unique Visual System for Identifying the Style of Virtually Any Piece of American Antique Furniture. United States: Henry Holt and Company, 1986.
Failey, Dean. Long Island Is My Nation: The Decorative Arts & Craftsmen, 1640-1830. 2nd ed. New York: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, 1998, pp. 9-13, 9-14, 39-40, Appendix I, Long Island Woodworking Craftsmen. 1640-1830, pp.228, 272.
Kamil, Neil. Fortress of the Soul: Violence, Metaphysics, and Material Life in the Huguenots' New World, 1517-1751. United States: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
Krill, Rosemary Troy. Early American Decorative Arts, 1620-1820, A Handbook for Interpreters, (American Association for State and Local History), Rowman & Littlefield 2010.
Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. Accessed January 22, 2021.
We gratefully acknowledge a grant from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network for the wood assessment of this and other furniture objects in the collection.