Figure 179 shows a wardrobe belonging to Mrs. Russell, of Woodstock, Connecticut. It is built exactly like the cabinet top of a scrutoire, and it belongs to the period of scroll-type high chests of drawers. Its dimensions are 6 feet 1 inch high, 3 feet 11/2 inches wide, and 151/2 inches deep. The cornice is composed of the usual mouldings of the period, a quarter-round, a fillet, a cove, an astragal, a fillet, and a small cove. The doors have long bevelled panels. The piece stands on ogee bracket feet. This is the only wardrobe of this period which has come under the writer's observation, and down to the Empire period they are very scarce, probably because the houses had ample closet room.

Figure 180 shows a cupboard, the property of the Tiffany Studios. The cornice, which is in the form of a broken pediment, is composed of a fillet, a cyma recta, a fillet, a quarter-round, a dentil moulding, a cove, and an astragal. On the cyma recta is carved an acanthus-leaf design. Across the front is a fillet, a cyma recta, a fillet, a dentil moulding, and a cove. The latter is decorated with arches and pendent drops. This form of ornament was quite frequently used during the Sheraton period (Figures 291 and 292), and is found in some houses in this country dating about 1800. At each side are columns fluted about three-quarters of the way down, and then fluted and reeded. The capitals are of the Corinthian order. The corners of the lower carcass are carved to represent blocks of stone, a not uncommon design of the period. In this carcass are two short and two long drawers, and the piece stands on straight bracket feet. The handles are of the open-work type.

Cupboard, 1780-90.

Figure 181 shows a wardrobe of the Empire period, the property of Mrs. George Hyde Clark, of Cooperstown, New York. At either end is a plain column with a carved acanthus-leaf capital, and the front feet are carved to represent animals' claw feet. Many massive clothes presses, some much larger than these, are found in the Empire period and were possibly made to match a suite of bedroom furniture.

Figure 181. Wardrobe, 1810-20.

Figure 182 shows a dresser, the property of Miss C. M. Traver, of New York. The upper section is composed of three open shelves backed and surmounted by a cornice composed of a quarter-round, a fillet, a cyma recta, a fillet, and a small cyma reversa. In the lower section are three drawers at the centre and a cupboard with panelled doors is at each end. The piece is made of pine throughout and was intended to be used to display china or pewter. It is of New York Dutch origin.

Figure 182:. Dresser, 1725-50.

Figure 183 shows a side cupboard, the property of the writer. This piece differs from those shown in the succeeding figures in that it is a piece of furniture and not set into the wall. The cornice is a fillet, a cyma recta, a fillet, and a cyma reversa. What appears to be panelling is wood cut to resemble it. The opening of the upper section is composed of ogee or cyma curves, and a rosette is carved in the square panel on each side of the door. The sides are of American oak and extend to the floor, forming two legs upon which it rests.

Side Cupboard, about 1725.

A fine example of an early Georgian cupboard is shown in Figure 184. It was presented to the old Philadelphia Library Building by John Penn in 1738. The interrupted pediment is full-hooded; the mouldings are ornamented with carving in the acanthus-leaf and egg-and-dart designs, and the latter design frames the door; the two fluted pilasters are well proportioned and appear to support the heavy pediment. At the centre is an urn with drapery.

About the years 1725-30 houses with panelled walls and with cupboards built in to match the panelling were quite generally the style throughout the colonies.

Figure 184. Cupboard, 1738.

The majority of these cupboards were fastened into side walls and were not, therefore, movable; but some, especially in the South, were fine pieces of workmanship with scroll tops and detached. The dining-room often had a corner cupboard or buffet, while the house throughout was supplied liberally with cupboards skilfully placed in various ways in the panelling of the walls. Corner cupboards appear in the inventories earlier than buffets, and are evidently not the same thing, as their values are much lower; two at Boston, one in 1720 and the other in 1725, are valued, respectively, at 7s. and 5s., two at Philadelphia as late as 1750 are valued at 10s. and 12s., while buffets are almost invariably valued at more than a pound, and often at two or three pounds and higher. Thus at Yorktown, Virginia, are mentioned in 1745, "1 beaufet £1 10s," 1753, "I unfinished beaufet £5 10s," and one in 1763 valued at £7 10s. The buffets were usually corner pieces, but sometimes recessed into the side walls. They were furnished with a door or doors, the upper portion of which was usually of glass and the lower panelled to match the room. The shelves of the upper cupboard are cut in graceful curves, and the top at the back is often finished with a shell.