circa 1800, New Hampshire, bowfront top, four conforming drawers with banded decoration and figured birch panels, banded and blocked skirt with figured birch panel, tall French feet, reverse branded with owner's name "C. BLUNT" for Charles Blunt (1768-1823), 38 x 41-1/2 x 21 in.

Note: Branding furniture with the owner's name was a common practice in Portsmouth during the late eighteenth century. Furniture from the collection of prominent ship captain Charles Blunt, featuring the same brand as the chest offered here, is illustrated in Portsmouth Furniture: Masterworks from the New Hampshire Seacoast by Brock Jobe et al., p. 287, 427. For similar inlaid chests, see Jobe, p. 114-116, figs. 11-12. 

restored finish, front drawer facings with small shrinkages and tiny filled areas, proper left return with board separation, base with veneer repairs and small repairs to feet, scattered shrinkages, typical other wear and imperfections expected with age and use