THE WILLIAM BUCHANAN CHIPPENDALE LOWBOY

Possibly Baltimore or Annapolis, Maryland, Circa 1765

Primary Wood: Mahogany
Secondary Woods: Yellow Pine, Poplar

Provenance: General William Buchanan (1732- September 27, 1804) and remained in the family to descend to his great, great granddaughter, Rebecca Agatha Henry.

William Buchanan moved to Baltimore from his native Carlisle, Pa., in 1759. He was a member of the Maryland Conventions of 1774 and 1775. Buchanan served as a Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel in the Maryland Militia in 1776, and then served under Washington during the Revolutionary War as Deputy Commissary-General of Purchases, 18th June, 1777, Commissary-General of Purchases, 5th August, 1777 until he resigned 23d March, 1778. He is buried in Baltimore, Maryland.

A number of letters from Washington to Buchanan, mostly complaining about lack of supplies, exist.
http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/history/provisions.html

Reference: For a side chair with similar rosette carving on the ribbon decoration see page 2099 of American Antiques from the Israel Sack Collection, Volume VIII. Another chair from the set is in the Karolik collection at the MFA, Boston. A highboy with a nearly identical shell carved drawer and clearly by the same hand descended in the Newbold family in Philadelphia. Please see page 1792 – 93 of Volume 7 of American Antiques From Israel Sack Collection. Another similar highboy is pictured in Michie and Monkhouse entry 28, page 82.

Maryland attributes of this lowboy include the chamfered and fluted corners that end in “lamb’s tongues” as does the shaping of the skirt and the use of a very square punch decoration in relief of the carving. Finally the floral decoration on the shell carved drawer is similar to that on the drawer of a Maryland high chest in the collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art, see Elder, Maryland Queen Anne and Chippendale Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, entry 58, page 82 and 83.