Antique Chest Of Drawers

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 By 1730 these seem to have been replaced by the more capacious tallboy.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.

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.