The Wilke Manufacturing Company also made refrigerators around the turn of the twentieth century that were covered in porcelain tiles, just as on this freestanding cigar case. Unsurprisingly for a tobacco magnate, James Duke owned the deluxe two-door model and likely installed it at Rough Point in the early 1920s when the house was being renovated.
This pair of double doors (only one set shown here) and another pair just like them originally adorned the Golden Gallery in the Palazzo Carrega-Cataldi, now the Chamber of Commerce in Genoa. Architect Stanford White purchased them in Italy and brought to New York in the 1890s. One pair, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Rogers Fund, 1991.307a, b), stayed with White until his death in 1906. The Rough Point pair were destined for the ballroom of the Fifth Avenue mansion of William C. Whitney, which White was renovating at the time. Doris Duke bought the doors at the sale of the contents of another Newport mansion, Bois Dore, in 1977. Just as they were used in the Whitney Mansion, Duke used the doors in Rough Point as freestanding screens. One thing she changed, however, was the orientation of the hinges, leaving one pair of doors (the pair you see here) misaligned.
This high chest is a spectacular example of Newport furniture and features the inscription of Benjamin Baker on the back of the piece
Benjamin Baker was active as a very prolific chair maker in Newport from 1760, and also made clock cases, tables and case furniture that was produced primarily for export to the coastal trade. This piece may originally have been designed for export: a recent conservation project revealed that the secondary wood is cedrela odorata—an unusual choice for Newport furniture.
Another special feature is the intaglio (incised) carved petal and leaf motif on the knees; a decorative detail found on Newport high chests and tea tables.