Antique Chest Of Drawers

OAK PARTNERS DESK, ANTIQUE AND SATINWOOD BANDED SIDE TABLE, BURR-WALNUT BUREAU BOOKCASE, CARVED OAK COFFER

A BURR-VENEERED TABLE AMBULANTE, Louis XV style, with gilt-metal mounts and three drawers, on cabriole legs, cm. wide.

A PARQUETRY PEDESTAL, Louis XVI style, with a green marble top and gilt-metal mounts, cm. high

AN OAK PARTNERS DESK, 19th Century and 18th Century, with an arrangement of fourteen drawers and a pair of cupboard doors, on plinth bases, cm. wide. by cm. deep

A MATCHED SET OF SIX ELM AND FRUITWOOD RAIL BACK CHAIRS, George III, early 19th Century and 18th Century, with solid seats and square legs joined by stretchers, including

cushions

AN ANTIQUE AND SATINWOOD INLAID SIDEBOARD, Edwardian, with a raised back and tapering legs, on spade feet, cm. wide.

A PAIR OF CARVED PEDESTALS, late th/early 19th Century and 18th Century, with composite capitals above fluted pIIIars, formerly gilt or painted, cm.

A BURR-WALNUT BUREAU BOOKCASE, Dutch, 19th Century and 18th Century style, with inlaid interior stationery compartments including simulated book spines, cm.

AN ANTIQUE BOW-FRONT SIDEBOARD, George III, with an arrangement of drawers, on tapering legs and spade feet, cm. wide.

AN ANTIQUE BOW FRONT CHEST, George III, with an arrangement of five drawers, on bracket feet, cm. wide.

AN ANTIQUE CHEST-ON CHEST, George III, of bow front form, with an arrangement of six drawers, on bracket feet, possibly reduced in height, cm. high by cm. wide.”

AN ANTIQUE AND MARQUETRY BOMBE COMMODE, Dutch, 19th Century and 18th Century style, modern, with three drawers and square faults, cm. high by cm.

AN ANTIQUE SECRETAIRE BOOKCASE, Victorian, with arched glazed doors above a writing drawer and panelled doors, cm. high by cm. wide.

A BLACK JAPANNED AND CANE CHAIR, George IV, with neo-Classical painted decoration and square splayed
legs

A PAIR OF BLACK PAPIER MACHE CHAIRS, Victorian, with pierced spoon backs, bowed cane seats and slender cabriole legs

A PROVINCIAL WALNUT SIDE TABLE, George II, with three drawers, on cabriole legs, cm. wide.

A GILT GESSO WALL MIRROR, Regency with alterations, the verre eglomise anthemion frieze panel above columnar mouldings, cm. wide.

AN ANTIQUE AND SATINWOOD BANDED SIDE TABLE, part early 19th Century and 18th Century, of bow-front form, with three drawers, on cabriole legs, cm. wide.

A LARGE MAHOGANY WRITING TABLE, Victorian, the leather inset top above four drawers, on turned baluster legs, cm. wide.

A YEW-WOOD GAMES TABLE, early Victorian, possibly Irish, the circular top with a parquetry chess-board, on a pedestal support, cm. diam,—

A CARVED WALNUT AND BEECHWOOD REFECTORY TABLE, late Victorian, on four baluster turned and square legs joined by stretchers,  cm.
long

A SET OF EIGHT DINING CHAIRS,
Edwardian, with carved cresting rails and
tapered square legs, bearing trade label,
Boardman &f Sons, London, regd.

AN ANTIQUE CYLINDER DESK,
Edwardian, inlaid with stringing, on tapering
square legs with castors, faults. cm.
wide.

AN ANTIQUE EXTENDING
DINING TABLE, Victorian, the rectangular
top including two leaf insertions, on fluted
turned legs, cm. wide. by cm. long when
fully extended

A CARVED OAK COFFER, part th
Century, with a triple lozenge panel front,
cm. wide.

A SET OF SIX MAHOGANY
DINING CHAIRS, early Victorian, with
serpentine seats and reeded turned legs

AN ANTIQUE TRAY-TOP
COMMODE, George III. with shaped apron
and square legs. cm. wvit—

AN OAK CHEST, early 19th Century and 18th Century,
with an arrangement of six drawers, on
bracket feet, cm. wide.; together with a
mahogany Step Commode, Victorian, on
turned feet, cm. wide.; and an oak Hall
Chair, late Victorian

A walnut and featherbanded Chest,
George I, formerly the upper section of a
Chest-on-Chest, with an arrangement of six
drawers, flanked by fluted corners, cm.

TALLBOYS OR CHESTS ON CHESTS
About 1710-1820
Chippendale-style mahogany tallboy, about 1765-1780.
Adevelopment of the chest on stand, used in bedrooms to store clothing. Especially popular during the second half of the 18thC - from when most date - despite being too high to use fully without standing on a chair.
Formed as two chests of drawers, the upper one slightly narrower than the lower. Nearly all straight-fronted, with bracket (often ogee) feet, though some around 1760 are serpentine, and later, from about 1780,
bow-fronted, with splayed ’swept’ feet.
Upper part has two or three short drawers above three feet long. A projecting moulded cornice is common; occasionally a broken pediment. Some have a frieze too; on early examples, occasionally, a cushion frieze
conceals a drawer.
Fashionably, corners canted; carved as columns or pilasters, in the mid-century, shallow Gothic or Chinese fret, or simple reeding or fluting.
Lower chest has three long drawers; mouldings around base and top into which upper chest slots. Occasionally a cavetto moulding (semi-circular concave niche) decorated with marquetry sunburst pattern, on bottom drawer of walnut examples. Occasionally a brushing slide at top; sometimes a secretaire drawer (see DESKS, P. 111).
Drawers usually - not always - of diminishing depth within each chest. Handles sometimes aligned.
Left, Sheraton mahogany tallboy, about 1800; right, late-18thC mahogany secretaire tallboy.
Walnut veneer; mahogany (solid or veneer). Occasionally rosewood, amboyna and other highly figured woods during Regency. Sometimes country versions in oak. Oak and pine for carcases.
As for CHESTS OF DRAWERS (see p. 87). The separate projecting cornice slots over blocks glued at corners of top. Occasionally low relief carving on frieze.
Polish; (rarely) japanning.
VALUES
Even the plainest tallboy will now fetch a four-figure sum and the best quality easily five. An early date, a cavetto moulding, a secretaire drawer, and, to a lesser extent, a brushing slide, and well figured and coloured veneers, will push the price up.
MARRIAGES
In the past tallboys were less fashionable than today and many were split up and sold as two separate chests of drawers. The reverse process is now common, so watch for marriages. Look for: correct conformation of
drawers; matching timber on all sides, including backboards; identical construction of all drawers; rough, unfinished surface on tops of both parts (neither would have been visible); canted corners on top and bottom, or top only.

CHESTS: DRAWING-ROOM COMMODES
About 1750-1800
Fine quality drawing-room commode in French style, about 17 75.
Valuable and prestigious objects made for the main rooms of fine houses. Probably seldom used in a practical sense; principally valued for their fine decoration. Usually made in pairs to stand at either end of a room or against the window piers. Gradually replaced by simpler cabinets during the Regency period.
Differently proportioned to bedroom chests; usually longer in relation to height.
Two, three or four drawers, sometimes en-, closed by doors (occasionally interior shelves instead). At first in French rococo style, or bomb shape (i.e. with swelling serpentine sides), keeled corners and splayed feet
with ormolu (gilt bronze) or gilt brass mounts with matched handles. Marble or wooden tops.
Ormolu, mounted on keeled front edges of serpentine commode.
Ousted from fashion about 1770 by straight-sided semi-circular shape with straight, tapering, later turned, legs.
Fine quality woods, particularly mahogany, satinwood. Tulipwood, kingwood, harewood (green-stained sycamore), chestnut, fruit and many other woods used for marquetry and inlay. Oak when japanned. Oak and pine for carcases. Marble or scagliola (a plaster-based material imitating rare marbles) was sometimes used for tops. The latter can be plain or patterned.
Generally standard methods were employed. Mostly veneered. Bombe sections coopered or laminated beneath veneer. On mid-century examples dustboards between drawers (not a feature of French commodes until late in the century).
Many have variously arranged mahogany veneers; often geometric patterns. Before about 1770 the finest have marquetry of floral patterns, musical instruments, trophies, birds. Neo-classical inlay from about 1770
onwards of urns, shells, husks, bell flowers, acanthus leaves, sometimes shaded with scorching or overlaid with pen and ink. Oval and fan shapes were popular.
Painted decoration (not all over) included ovals containing classical figures, borders of flowers, ribbons, garlands etc. Occasionally low-relief Wedgwood plaques incorporated, with gilt brass framing.
Chinoiserie decoration (especially for bedrooms and dressing-rooms) sometimes japanned, occasionally partly composed of genuine Oriental lacquer taken from broken-up imported screens.
Polish, japanning, paint.
VALUES
A specialist market, prices in four, five or even six figures. Not objects to be purchased without expert advice.

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

CHESTS OF DRAWERS - 1690-1720
A very fine oyster veneered chest of drawers on bun feet which are a bit small in proportion. Parquetry work of this kind, involving geometric designs made up from small oyster veneers, requires a high degree of skill. Note the ‘thumbnail’ top edge moulding and deep proportion. Just short of 2ft. in depth.
1690-1710
A marquetry chest of drawers in faded sycamore with panels of sharply contrasting woods. A very striking piece with the typical thumbnail moulding of the period. Marquetry in panels is associated with this earlier period, but perhaps even more desirable are the flower vases and buds in panels with green stained bone pieces inserted. Later the marquetry spread all over and gradually became thinner and rather effete. c. 1685
The classic profile of an early walnut chest  herring-bone crossbanding to the drawers, matched veneers, half-round or D cross-grained mouldings on the edges of the carcase front. The bun feet are replacements but of correct proportions. The top is quartered and cross-banded. Brasses later, keyholes original.
1700-1720
A laburnum parquetry veneer chest with inlaid boxwood stringing lines in typical patterns. Even the diamond shape inlaid in the sides is quite usual and is possibly a design left over from oak carving or applied moulding on much earlier chests. Bracket feet and walnut crossbanding are the other principal features. Handles are not original.
1700-1720
A burr yew chest on bracket feet, with boxwood banding to the drawers. The heavy top moulding is of cross-grained yew, as is the lighter bottom moulding, but the half-round on the edges of the carcase has been cut along the grain. Again, the handles are later. Price high because yew is expensive.
1700-1720
A country walnut chest with inlaid boxwood and ebony stringing lines in conventional patterns. The straight grained walnut of this more humble piece still matches. Note the original handles which are fixed through the drawer fronts with thin steel wire. The wire has often broken and been replaced by bands, but this is not very important. Buns are replacements. c.1710

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.