Chest
William Searle
Category
Furniture
Date
1660 - 1690
Materials
Oak
Measurements
840 x 1380 x 580 mm
Place of origin
Ottery St Mary
Order this imageCollection
Cotehele, Cornwall
NT 347803
Summary
Seventeenth-century oak chest, probably made by William Searle of Ottery St Mary, before he emigrated to New England in 1663. There he formed a partnership with Thomas Dennis and they became renowned for their workmanship. According to Victor Chinnery (2004): An oak chest, the two-plank moulded lid above front rail incised with an S-scroll band the three front panels incised with enriched lozenges and the muntins, uprights and lower rail similarly incised the stiles extended to form feet. English, probably from the Searle workshop at Ottery St. Mary in Devonshire, c.1660-1690.
Provenance
According to Victor Chinnery (2004): Date of acquisition unknown. See notes to COT.F.153. William Searle was born in 1634 at Ottery St Mary, where he trained as a joiner. In 1659 he married a local girl, Grace Cole, and emigrated to New England shortly afterwards. They are next recorded in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1663. In 1668, the joiner Thomas Dennis married Searle’s widow and took over his joinery business. Searle and Dennis are credited with the manufacture of a group of pieces in the style which Searle had learned in the Ottery workshop and continued to make in New England.
Makers and roles
William Searle, cabinetmaker