$18,900
Estimate: $15,000 - $25,000
American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts
Auction: April 27, 2021 11:00:00 AM EDT
Inscribed and dated, "Eva Beier 1786," retaining original lock and hardware.
H: 28 in. W: 50 1/4 in. D: 22 3/4 in.Provenance
A private collection.
G.K.S. Bush, Inc., Washington, D.C., trade, 1987.
By descent from Eva Beier Knauss,
to daughter Margaret Knauss Knabb (1808- before 1850) and husband William Knabb (1801-1867),
to their daughter, Mary Ann Knabb Rhoads (1832-1898),
to her son, Edwin Knabb Rhoads (1865-1947),
to their son, Jay Roscoe Rhoads (1895-1983),
to daughter.
Note
Eva Beier or Boyer (1767-1854) was born in Exeter Township, Berks County to Johann Heinrich Boyer (1727-1777) and Elizabeth Specht (1726-1802). At the time of her marriage to widower Henrich Knauss (1741-1810) at the Schwarzwald Reformed Church in 1806, her residence is listed as Amity. After the death of her husband, Eva lived with her daughter Margaret Knauss and son-in-law William Knabb and is buried in the Knabb Graveyard, Oley Township.
Literature
See Patricia Law Hatcher, A Rhoads Family History: The Family and Ancestry of Jay Roscoe Rhoads (2001). Eva Beier's dower chest is illustrated p. 118, and discussed pp. 119-120. For Beier's biography and chest provenance, see pp. 138-139 and 293.
For related examples attributed to John Bieber see: Richard H. Shaner, "Bieber Family of Furniture Makers in Oley Valley," Historical Review of Berks County, 71, no. 3 (Summer, 2006) pp. 123-126.
Richard L.T. Orth, The Early Decorated Furniture of the Pennsylvania Dutch: 18th C. Bieber Family of Craftsmen & Other Folk Artists (2019). Eva Beier's chest is cited on page 34.