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Madeline Yale Wynne (American, 1847 - 1918)
Chest, 1899, oak, iron, paint.
Gift of the Decorative Arts Collectors and Ralph Raby 2003.17.1

Madeline Yale Wynne was a prominent and important force in the American Arts and Crafts movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Wynne grew up in a household where creativity and working with metal was encouraged. Her father was the inventor of the Yale lock. She was skilled in metalwork, enameling, painting, embroidery, woodwork, basketry, writing, and music and went on to found craft societies in Massachusetts and Chicago. She made this chest during her brief period as a furniture maker. Her unique style mixes Celtic-inspired carving with X-shaped panels borrowed from traditional New England colonial chests. The Virgin Mary is depicted in the top of the chest and three white lilies, the symbol of the Virgin, are painted on the underside of the lid.