Chests Of Drawers

Chests of drawers were of two types, the high or two-sectional kinds and the low (Key XI, 4) or one-section variety, which, with a mirror hung back of it, or placed on a small stand on top of it, was used for dressing purposes, and may be regarded as the direct prototype of the modern bureau.

The low chests had four or five drawers and were either straight or had serpentine (Key XI, 4) fronts. The plinth or base was often shaped in graceful lines and the feet were usually of the French type. Drawers were frequently surrounded with cock beading (Key XI, 4).

In the two-section chests of drawers the upper portion would be receded slightly and contain four or five drawers, there frequently being two or three small drawers instead of one at the top. The tops were ordinarily straight and the cornice was not overly prominent, but finely moulded.

Writing Furniture

The writing furniture possessed considerable variety. Besides the writing tables (mentioned in the section on tables) there was the cabinet desk supported on four legs (Key XII, 3). The front pulled down and was supported by quadrants at the side. The top was a cabinet or bookcase with glazed and traceried doors.

There was also the secretary bookcase (Fig. 3), often made in three sections, of which the central part, slightly projecting beyond the side, contained the writing facilities. The lower portion was given over to drawers or cupboards, and a deep drawer front pulled down, supported by quadrants, to form the desk. The upper portion had glazed doors. The top was usually straight, but was sometimes embellished with an arched cornice.

Fig. 3. Secretary Bookcase.

There were also secretaries with the lower portion like a chest of drawers (Key XII, 2), the upper drawer front pulling down to make a desk, and the upper portion, set back somewhat, forming a cabinet or cupboard.

Then again, there were the four-legged desks with pullover tambour tops, and with or without a low cupboard on top - the precursor of the modern roll-top desk. Last of all, there was the old type of slant-top desk with drawers beneath and bookcase on top.

Cabinets And Cupboards

The three-cornered cupboard and also the rectangular china cupboard of ordinary pattern were made by Hepplewhite, the distinctive features being his method of embellishment and his proportions. The lower part usually had panelled doors and the upper doors were glazed, the divisions being usually of straight lines, vertical, horizontal or diagonal. Some of the small cabinets stood on legs.

Sideboabds

To Shearer really belongs the credit of introducing the sideboard in its present form and of making it something more than merely a table. Hepplewhite, however, adopted. Shearer's idea and so habitually made sideboards of this type that he is usually given the credit of originating it (Key XI, 6). It was a most graceful piece of furniture, stood on four or six legs, and ordinarily had a shaped front. The chief point of difference between the sideboards of this type designed by Hepplewhite and Sheraton is that the Hepplewhite sideboards had the serpentine front, while the Sheraton sideboards usually had a bowed front swelling out from rectangular corners. In other points, even to the type of decoration, the tambour work in the higher central portion and the details of inlay decoration they were often precisely alike (Plate XXVII, p. 216).