A dressing-table with a slate top is shown in Figure 62 rod is the property of Mr. W. F. J. Boardman, of Hartford, Connecticut The legs are cup-chaped and the stretchers are in the usual X design. The skirt is cut in the simple arch and a tingle-arch moulding is about the drawers on the frame. The top, which is shown in Figure 63, has a much heavier overhang than is found on the ordinary pieces. At the centre is a piece of slate stone and the border is elaborately inlaid; in each of the four corners are lions rampant, and inlaid rectangular panels are on the sides. The top in all probability was not made here, but was imported rod placed on the table. These tops are thought by some to have come from Switzerland, but it is the writer's opinion that they are from Holland and were used to place hot dishes upon in much the same way as the tea-table tops with delft tiles inserted.

Figure 62. Slate-Top Table, 1690-1700.

Figure 63. Top view of fun-going table.

Mention of these tables is made in the early inventories, but only in Boston. In 1693, "In the lower room a slate table, £1, 10s"; in 1699, "In the hall a slate table £1, 10s," and in 1703, "a table with a stone in the middle £1."

These prices are high, which would rather indicate that the tops were imported.

An unusual dressing-table is shown in Figure 64. The legs are turned in the cup pattern and a single-arch moulding is about the drawers. The Stretchers, cut in cyma curvet, are in simple waving form instead of scroll form. The handles are drops with diamond-shaped plates. The unusual feature is the drop leaf at the back and that the back is finished with the skirt cut in cyma curves similar to the front, which seems to indicate that the piece was intended to be used where all four sides could be seen. This is the property of Mr. Dwight M. Prouty, of Boston.

Dressing-Table, 1700-10.

Figure 65. High Chest of Drawers, 1700-10.

Dressing-tables are also found finished alike on both sides, the back having dummy drawers. They are also occasionally found made of mahogany.

We now come to the second type of the six-legged high-boy, of which Figure 65 is a good example. It differs from the preceding style in the following particulars: The moulding at the top has a lillct and small cove added, making the mouldings a quarter-round, a fillet, a cyma recta, a fillet, and a small cove. The mouldings about the drawers are of the double-arch type. The legs are turned in the trumpet shape, and the handles are engraved plates with two bent wires clinched on the inside of the drawer holding the bails. The drawer fronts are vneered in walnut with herring-bone border. It is the property of the writer.

Figure 66. High Chest of Drawers, 1700 - 10.

A variation of the second type of high chests of drawers, the property of Mr. Hollis French, of Boston, is shown in Figure 66. The cornice consists of a quarter-round, a filler, a cyma revcrsa, a wide fillet, a narrow fillet, end a cyme recta. The double-arch moulding is on the frame about the drawers. The legs are cup instead of trumpet shaped. The drawen are veneered walnut with a herring-bone border and the handles are drops with diamond-shaped plates.

Figure 67. Inlaid High Chest of Drawers, 1700-10.

Figure 68. High Chest of Drawers, 1700-10.

An interesting inlaid high chest of drawers, the property of Mr. William W. Smith, of Hartford, is shown in Figure 67. The cornice is heavy and consists of a quarter-round, a fillet, a cyma recta, a fillet, and a cove, as in Figure 65; below this is added a wide fillet or frieze, a small torus, a large torus or cushion frieze, and a small torus. The cushion frieze conceals a drawer, a feature not nncommon in the later pieces. There are three instead of the usual two drawers at the top. Each of the drawers is divided into two panels by an inlaid border of alternately light and dark wood set diagonally. About the drawers is the single-arch moulding; the brasses are drops and the legs are cup-turned; three features uncommon in the later pieces.

Still another variation of the second type of six-legged high chests of drawers is shown in Figure 68 and is the property of Mr. Dwight M. Prouty, of Boston.

Figure 69. High Chest of Drawers, 1710-20.

The cornice somewhat resembles that shown in the preceding figure and consists of a quarter-round, a fillet, a cyma recta, a fillet, a wide fillet or frieze, a narrow fillet, a cyma recta, a fillet, a large torus or cushion frieze, and a small torus. The cushion frieze, as is usual, conceals a drawer. The drawers are of walnut veneer with herring-bone edges, and on the frame and about the drawers is the canal moulding which is rarely found so early. The handles are drops with diamond-shaped plates and the legs are cup-turned as in the earlier type.

A six-legged high-boy, which is the property of the writer, is show in Figure 69. The cornice mouldings consul of a quarter-round, a fillet, a cove, two fillets, and a cyma recta, below which is a large torus which conceals a moulding drawer.

Double-arch mouldings are about the drawers and the legs are turned in trumpet shape. There are five drawers in the frame. The piece is made throughout of white wood.