Referred to as "swelled" chests during the Colonial period, chests with serpentine facades were the specialty of cabinetmakers working in the Boston area. As few chests of this form can be dated and documented to a maker, this example is exceptional for bearing the initials of the maker, Ebenezer Martin, and date of manufacture, 1797.

Martin worked as a cabinetmaker during the latter half of the eighteenth century.