Antique Chest Of Drawers

VICTORIAN, EDWARDIAN FURNITURE, A Victorian rosewood Canterbury, A Victorian rosewood pedestal Table, Dwarf Bookcase

A George Ill-style mahogany four-poster Bed, circa 1900, with key pattern cornice and damask-lined canopy, with twin receded baluster pillars and damask drapes, the box-spring

base with a feather mattress, on square lock feet and castors, 142cm. wide; 4ft. 8in.

A George Ill-style mahogany kneehole Dressing Table, made-up, with brass carrying handles and three frieze drawers, the arched kneehole flanked by two drawers and a pair of

cupboards simulating drawers, on shaped bracket feet, 84cm. wide; 2ft. 9in.    ?150-250

A pair of Victorian walnut and they wood corner Display Cabinets, circa 1855, formerly part of a side cabinet, with ormolu mounts an inlaid with stringing and arabesques, the

bowed glazed door enclosing a velvet-lined and shelved interior flanked by four baluster turned and fluted Corinthian pillars, on a plinth base and turned feet, altered, one

cabinet with cracked glazed panel, 89cm. high by 80cm. wide; 2ft. 11m. by 2ft.

A George Ill-style mahogany
serpentine-fronted Chest, circa 1900,
with kingwood banding and satinwood
stringing, the four long graduated
drawers flanked by canted corners, on
shaped bracket feet, together with a
plate glass top, 81cm. high by 102cm. wide;
2ft. 8in. by 3ft. 4in.

A George Ill-style mahogany
framed shield-shaped Toilet Mirror,
circa 1900, the serpentine-front plinth
with three drawers and canted blind-fret
corners, on ogee bracket feet, restored,
61cm. wide; 3ft.

A George Ill-style satinwood and
painted Armchair, circa 1900, with
caned back and arms, the bowed cane
seat with a cushion, the ring turned legs
ending in brass capping and castors.

A Victorian rosewood
Canterbury, circa 1870, in the manner of
Edwards & Roberts, inlaid with satinwood
stringing, the open tier above a recess
with mirror back and scroll carved
terminals, below is a fall-front paneled
door inlaid with vase and fruit within
arabesques and pattered, the interior with
three shelves, the gadrooned turned feet
ending in ceramic castors, 97cm. high by
65cm. wide; 3ft. 2m. by 2ft.

A George Ill-style stained beech
and upholstered Armchair, made-up, in
the French Hippie white manner, the stuffed back, padded arms and bowed seat covered in blue striped fabric, on baluster turned and fluted legs.

A George Ill-style mahogany
Armchair, made-up, the leaf carved
cresting rail above a pierced and
interlaced vase-shaped splat, the slip-in
seat with gadrooned apron, the acanthus
carved cabriole legs ending in claw and
ball feet.

A Victorian rosewood pedestal
Table, circa 1840, the circular tilt-top
with a den tilled border, the gadrooned
and jeweled baluster pillar above a
carved tripod base, on claw feet and
concealed castors, faults, 135cm 4ft. 5in.
A set of twenty-eight Victorian oak rail-back Chairs, circa 1860, the stuffed leather cloth seats above an apron with quart form and lancet motifs, on ring turned tapering legs

.

A George Il-style mahogany and parcel-gilt framed Wall Mirror, modern, the acanthus scroll pediment with an eagle, the rectangular plate above a scroll apron, 91.5cm. high by

91.5cm. wide; 3ft. by 3ft.

A George Ill-style mahogany ‘D’-end twin-pedestal Table, made-up, extending with two leaf insertions and with two rail bearers, the baluster turned
pillars above tripod supports ending in rasps capping and castors, 100 by 221cm. fully extended; 3ft. 3V2in. by 7ft. 3in.

A set of six George Ill-style
satinwood Chairs, circa 1900, with
ebonized-strung borders, the shield backs
with pierced vase-shaped splats and lotus
carved surmounts, the stuffed bowed
seats covered in gold damask, on tapered
square legs and spade feet.

A George Ill-style mahogany
Dwarf Bookcase, circa 1910, with a
pierced brass gallery and satinwood
banding, the three open shelves above
tapered square feet, 92cm. high by 53cm.
wide; 3ft. by  9in.

A set of six George Ill-style carved mahogany Chairs, circa 1910, the acanthus carved cresting rails above pierced and interlaced vase-shaped splats, the individual slip-in

seats with carved cabriole legs, on claw and ball feet, bearing trade label of Graham and Banks, 445 Oxford Street, London .

A set of eight George Ill-style
mahogany Chairs, modern, including
two armchairs, the scroll and foliate
carved cresting rails above pierced
vase-shaped splats, the slip-in seats
covered in rose-pink fabric, the carved
cabriole legs ending in claw and ball feet.

A set of six George II-style
mahogany Chairs, circa 1910, the scroll
cresting rails with a receded medallion
surmount above a pierced and interlaced
vase-shaped splat, the slip-in seats
covered in pale-green damask, the
cabriole legs ending in claw and ball feet.

A set of four Queen Anne-style
walnut Chairs, circa 1900, the drapery
carved cresting rail above a solid
vase-shaped splat, with a slip-in seat, the
cabriole legs joined by a turned
‘H’-shaped stretcher, on pad feet .

A set of six George Ill-style
mahogany Chairs, circa 1900, including
two armchairs, the carved backs with
splats, the seats covered in gold brocade, the chamfered tapered square legs joined by stretchers.

A set of eight George Ill-style
mahogany Chairs, circa 1910, including
two armchairs, the carved backs with
arched cresting rails, the pierced
vase-shaped splats surmounted by a
cartouche, the slip-in seats covered in
distressed hide, the acanthus carved
cabriole legs ending in claw and ball feet.

A George II-style carved
mahogany and upholstered Library
Armchair, circa 1900, the arched back,
padded arms and stuffed seat covered in
needlework, with grotesque mask
arm-facings, the acanthus carved and
scroll apron with masks and scallop-shell
motifs, on cabriole legs and claw feet.

CHESTS ON STANDS
About 1680-1730
Many fashionable chests of drawers of this period were raised about 2 feet/60 cm from the ground on turned stands. By 1730 these seem to have been replaced by the more capacious tallboy. The information below
relates to the stands only; for details of the chest sections see under CHESTS OF DRAWERS: PANELLED OAK p.84 and CHESTS OF DRAWERS: VENEERED, p.86.
Late-17thC chest on stand of William & Mary type.
Pre-Queen Anne stands have one long (or after 1690 three short) drawer(s) supported on six turned legs joined by a platform, or turned stretchers with bun feet below. Cabriole legs with pad or hoof feet and without stretchers introduced about 1700. On both types, there is sometimes a shaped apron below the drawer(s). On three-drawer types, the central drawer is shallower than the side ones. Inverted projecting moulding at top of stand (into which chest slots) echoes similar moulded cornice at top of chest.
Early-18thc type with base in form of a lowboy or side-table.
Oak; solid walnut for legs; walnut veneer on pine for drawer sections and platform stretchers; oak for drawer linings (except for the drawer fronts).
Glued mortise-and-tenon joints. Turned legs dowelled into frame. Cabriole legs extend upwards to form corner stiles of framing.
Structural weakness and the partiality of wood-beetles for walnut have often contributed to the disappearance of the stand. The remaining chest section can easily be converted into a standard chest of drawers by the addition of a polished top  the original top being rough and concealed by the cornice and bun feet. These can often be identified by the presence of three rather than two small drawers at the top.
Drawers and drawer frieze as for chests, otherwise very plain.
Wax polish after varnish. Occasionally japanned. Spiral turnings occasionally ebonised (i.e. stained black).
VALUES
It is unusual to find a chest on stand without at least replacement feet, if not legs too. Even so, prices are well into the thousands. Replacement legs and stretchers, even if the drawer section is right, may reduce the
value by as much as 40 per cent. Fine and extensive marquetry is a huge bonus, possibly raising the price to a five-figure sum.

English Chests on Stand

William and Mary walnut chest on stand. Cross banded drawers and top with inlaid stringing line. Note early period thumb-nail top edge moulding. Half-round moulding on carcase front. c. 1690.
Price Range: $200-$400
Value points: See section notes

William and Mary Period - c. 1690 - oyster and marquetry chest on stand of superb quality. The twist turning which remained so popular after the Restoration is well illustrated in the legs. The flat, shaped stretcher is veneered in walnut on the top face. The mouldings are first class examples of the cross-grained type of the period and the thick inlaid boxwood lines are bold examples of the type. Note that the sides are also veneered and inlaid with boxwood stringing. A half round moulding on the carcase front follows the
drawer edges.
Price Range: $800-$1,200
Value points: Quality of marquetry decoration

William and Mary Walnut and Marquetry chest on stand. Half-round moulding on carcase front around drawers. ‘Concave’ top edge moulding. Panels of marquetry on drawer fronts. Convex-fronted cushion drawer in top of chest, under top moulding. Typical period stand in solid walnut with inverted cup turning, shaped stretchers and bun feet. c. 1690-1700.
Price Range: $350-$1, 000. Large range scale accounted for by originality of base or stand.
Value points: Quality of marquetry and veneer

William and Mary oak chest on stand with drawers cross banded in walnut. The projecting lip moulding, rather like a cock bead, around the shaped frieze of the base, is a feature found on dressing tables of the period. Note the double D moulding on carcase front around the drawers.
Price Range: $160-$I90
Value points: Drawers cross banding

Queen Anne period chest on stand. First quarter 18th century. Note the fine cabriole legs and shaped base. Carcase fronts now flat veneered - no moulding - and drawers have ovolo lip moulding around edges to ‘lip’ over carcase front. Drawers cross banded. Note concave typical top moulding.
Price Range: Walnut $200 - $400. Oak $85 - $140 Value points:
In Walnut: Quality and originality of cabriole legs
In Oak:    Colour and grain  Medullary rays (see A. C. C.
Wood Identification Supplement) across drawer
fronts tend to detract from value.
Drawer cross banding: If in walnut or fruitwood  Mahogany (after 1730)  Many country versions have no cross banding or ovolo moulding on drawers.

Queen Anne period chest on stand in veneer. Note that the cabriole legs have the shell motif on the knee - a mark of quality -and web feet, an unusual feature also of quality. The piece is boldly proportioned with shaped frieze to the stand, half round or ‘D’ moulding on the carcase front around the drawers and a simple cross banding. All the mouldings are cross-grained and of good proportionPrice
Range: $300-$400
Value points: Quality and originality of cabrioles

Queen Anne country walnut chest on stand. Ogee type top edge moulding; half-round or ‘D’ moulding on carcase edges around drawers. Note the ‘half-herring bone’ cross banding around drawers i.e. the cross banding is at 45 degrees - a cheaper variation of the full herring-bone or ‘feather’ type cross banding. This type of cross banding was used on country pieces until a later date, running concurrently with full herring-bone; it is easier and simpler to produce. The square-cut cabriole legs are rather clumsy - those on the illustrated piece are not original. The top is not veneered and it has plain pine sides and drawer linings. The handles and escutcheons are period reproductions. Walnut veneer has some figure but the piece has poor patination. A patch in the veneer can be seen on the second long drawer in the top half, on the left hand side.
Price Range: $120-$150
Value points: See section notes

Chest-on-stand

The revolution in the art of veneering was quite spectacular, both in terms of craftsmanship and in design. Veneering, marquetry and parquetry originally came to England from the Netherlands, and gained in popularity when Charles it returned from The Hague in 1660 with a retinue of foreign craftsmen, artists, silversmiths and designers. With the succession of William of Orange to the English throne in 1689, the two countries were, even more closely connected.
The technique of veneering, of which marquetry is a part, required a complete change in the construction of chest furniture, from the traditional frame construction to the carcase method. In England, carcase wood was almost exclusively close-grained Baltic pine with drawers lined in oak until the beginning of the eighteenth century. The Dutch, by contrast, used red or white
European softwoods for their veneered furniture which, from the seventeenth century onwards, they made in far greater quantities and of varying qualities.
Marquetry seems to have arrived fully fledged in England, for there are no surviving examples of clumsy, early work while English craftsmen learned the new technique. From this it is perhaps fair to assume that skilled craftsmen from the Netherlands crossed the Channel and established the craft of ‘cabinet-making’ in England, teaching English carpenters and joiners a new skill. Previously their only method of decorating woods had been by inlaying.
Signs of authenticity
1. Interior surfaces more brightly coloured than exterior, which has been faded by light.
2. Oak drawer linings.
3. Locks inset into thickness of cabinet doors, drawer in base. Keyholes, escutcheons, should not break into decorative
pattern knobs, drawer-pulls should be set within drawer panels, rather than cutting into featherbanded or herringbone edging.
4. Steel or brass pin hinges to cabinet doors.
5. Steel locks and lock casings to c.1700, thereafter brass lock casings with steel levers.
6. Wide variety of woods for inlays: cherry, laburnum, olive wood, harewood, (dyed
sycamore) and, from c.1685 boxwood, holly, burrwood, ebony and yew wood.
7. On quartered veneer panels, such as the insides of doors with a central marquetry panel, the ground veneer is in four separate pieces: grain should not run through decorative panels in continuous line.
8. Featherbanding or herringbone cross-cut veneer around drawers and doors running to central point at top and bottom, not continuing round without change of direction.
9. Veneer thickness almost 1/8 in and same thickness on both sides of doors.
Likely restoration and repair
10. Exterior veneers scraped down to remove discolouration or fading, sometimes concealing parts which have been reveneered in new wood.
11. Drawer linings, of red or white pine indicates Dutch or Continental origins.
12. Plain veneer on inner surfaces of doors where original has lifted, bubbled and cracked, beyond repair.
13. Cornice directly above doors where cushion drawer has been damaged and removed.
14. Stands replaced with frieze-drawers, newly veneered to match up with cabinet: veneers are thinner, colours and cutting of marquetry will vary slightly from original.
15. Damage to carcase wood from weight of doors on hinges. Hard to detect, but important because weakness can recur. Veneer steamed off, wood repaired and veneer replaced, leaving no dirt around hinges.
Construction and materials
With the advent of carcase construction, not only did the old frame-and-panel method of making furniture change, but so did the construction of drawers. The old through dovetail was abandoned in favour of the stopped dovetail or lapped dovetail, and drawers ran on bottom runners instead of grooves on drawer sides, so that the thickness of drawers could be reduced and to give a smooth surface to which veneer could adhere.
As with chairs of the same period, many sound construction principles and the fine finish were sacrificed for the sake of appearance. The twist-turned legs of the stands were often no more than dowelled into the base of the carcase wood, and not surprisingly
Variations
Continental
Dowry chests without stands were imported in considerable quantities from the Netherlands from the end of the seventeenth century onwards, usually made in pine or poplar and inlaid with pale-coloured woods with motifs of hearts, doves, and tulips.
Small chests of drawers with two doors were more commonly made in England, in oak with fielded or coffered panels and drawers, for keeping small articles and precious possessions. They are very similar to spice cabinets of later date.
Right, above: a full view of the open chest-on-stand opposite  a superb Charles ii piece with cushion drawer. Inlaid panels of tulips, flowers and scrolls of leaves, all mounted on a twist-and bobbin-turned stand.
Right, below: a fine quality, late seventeenth century chest-onstand in oyster veneer.
few have survived intact. Most of the stands were made in walnut, another reason for their disappearance, since walnut is very susceptible to woodworm.
Detail
All decoration was on the surface, in the fine figuring of the veneer and the intricately cut marquetry designs. Chests were almost completely flush-surfaced, with the exception of the cushion drawer beneath the cornice. It comes as quite a surprise to find that the interior finish of these grand cabinets is often comparatively rough and ready, with crude iron nails still securing the sides and bottoms of drawers, unfinished wood, and coarse saw-cut oak planking nailed to the back.
Reproductions
Nineteenth century Chests-on-stands had a much longer life on the Continent than they did in England, although the nineteenth century saw a revival in popularity. Few were actually made in England but, either elaborately fitted with small drawers, or with two doors and an ordinary shelved cupboard, were imported in considerable numbers. The taste of the time was very much inclined towards the Gothic, and more chests-on-stands from southern Germany came into England at this period than their more traditional
counterparts from Holland.
Twentieth century
Spanish and Portuguese varguenos have come into England more recently, as well as cheaply made but impressive-looking Italian versions using tortoiseshell instead of veneer.
The veneer is frequently surrounded with ebonized stringof-beads moulding, similar to the fashion in England during the William and Mary period.
Most showy chests-on-stands of recent manufacture have not been made or reproduced in England because they are extremely time-consuming to make and the costs outweigh any ultimate profit.
Price bands
Charles II marquetry with fine interior fittings and original walnut stand with drawer, $9,000-12,000.
Charles II with restored or later stand, 6,000-8,500.
Chest on low stand with oyster veneer and fine inlay, $4,500-6,500.
As above, but on restored or later stand, 3,500-4,500.