CHESTS  dressing
The dressing chest appears to be a Victorian invention and, although out of favour for some years, it was quite a good idea. The addition of a mirror to a normal chest of drawers was a quite common form but
sometimes the chest top was modified into a minor dressing table top with small drawers [...]

CHESTS OF DRAWERS - 1860-1930
The period 1860-1930 is not particularly associated with beautiful chests of drawers in the traditional antique collector’s view. Wooden knobs and nasty turned feet are what spring immediately to mind. Unlike the 18th century, where the chest played a decorative role, the chest of drawers was relegated to the bedroom in [...]

CHESTS OF DRAWERS (BUREAUX) AND DRESSING CHESTS (DRESSERS)
About 1890-1940
Nine-drawer oak chest designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, about 1902.
In modern American usage, a bureau is a chest of drawers; in Britain it is a slope-front desk. In the USA, a dresser is a dressing-table or dressing-chest with a mirror; in the UK it is a kitchen [...]

CHESTS AND CHESTS OF DRAWERS. HIGHBOYS
About 1790-1890
Right, Federal mahogany and birch-veneered bow-front chest of drawers, about 1810-1820.
Neo-classical principles dominate for 50 years, to be followed by eclecticism for the next 50; all the while, ethnic minorities preserve their heritage and religious communities reject worldly extravagance.
Federal, 1790-1810: Published designs of Hepplewhite and Sheraton favour chests of [...]

CHESTS AND CHESTS OF DRAWERS. HIGHBOYS AND LOWBOYS.
About 1700-1790
A Queen Anne walnut lowboy, about 1750-1760.
As the 18thC begins, the joiner’s lidded chest and the panelled chest of drawers continue to be made, but mainly in country districts; in the larger towns their place is taken by cabinet-makers’ pieces with flush surfaces.
William and Mary, 1690-1725: Chests [...]

AMERICAN CHESTS AND CHESTS OF DRAWERS
About 1600-1700
The box-like chest, serving as a crate or travelling trunk, is one of the few pieces of furniture brought with them by the Pilgrim Fathers. By 1660, panelled chests were being made with drawers below the box; their number increased until they occupied the whole space, and the top [...]

FRENCH AND ITALIAN CHESTS AND CHESTS OF DRAWERS About 1600-1675
Italian Renaissance cassone.
Lidded chests continued to be the main storage pieces until about 1650. From then on, they were largely replaced with armoires (see CUPBOARDS, p. 210) and chests of drawers, but in many rural areas the lidded chest survived as a traditional type. By about [...]

FRENCH CHESTS AND CHESTS OF DRAWERS About 1675-1760
Polychrome bootie commode, about 1700.
Lidded chests continue to be made, but mainly in rural areas; regional variations become firmly established.
Chests of drawers in mid-17thC styles also made in provinces until well after 1700, but in major centres, panelled ends give way to flush surfaces, applied mouldings disappear from [...]

FRENCH CHESTS AND CHESTS OF DRAWERS About 1800-1850
German commode in French Empire style, about 1810.
The lidded chest continues to be made as a purely utilitarian article – e.g. blanket chest, tool chest; and as a decorative one also in some areas – Scandinavia, Russia, Poland and the Baltic countries. Chests made by peasant communities in [...]

French CHESTS AND CHESTS OF DRAWERS About 1890 to 1940
Macassar ebony chest of drawers, 1930s.
1890-1920: Sinuous art nouveau line lends itself to leggy items – tables, chairs – more readily than to carcase pieces. Leading practitioners (Majorelle, Galle) adapt bow-fronted types by framing within stem-like mouldings, placing them on swept plinths and decorating with stylized [...]