The carving is reminiscent of what you might see on Eastlake style furniture tho it's certainly missing the "over-the-top" decoration of what you would typically think of as Eastlake. I looked thru his book but didn't find anything similar. Eastlake did have some more simple designs but nothing like this that I saw... Just thought I'd mention tho - if nothing else than to "muddy the waters" a bit
Here is an example of what I'm talking about from my chair if it helps...
ETA: Agree with Cougar that more detailed pics of construction might help with dating. Pics of the back, how corners were joined, and hardware (screws, nails etc), how the handles are attached (again hardware). Anything that you might think would be helpful...
Editing... Agian: Is it possible that was some additional molding remove from the very top? Remnants of glue, old nail holes, etc?