Antique Chest Of Drawers

CHESTS: MULE, DOWER OR COUNTER CHESTS
About 1630-1800
Late-17thC oak mule chest.
Alidded chest with one or two drawers added below. A transitional piece in the 17thC, marking the change from simple chest to full chest of drawers; a country piece in the 18thC.
Thought by some to have been used by tradesmen; many have a small till or partitioned area in the drawer(s), suitable for coins. Early inventories sometimes refer to the drawers themselves as ’tilles’.
Three, sometimes two, panels, with one long or two (occasionally three) short drawers
below. In 17thC often made in two sections, a projecting mitred moulding  echoing that on base  concealing the join. Can be very simple, resembling plain panelled coffers, or more sophisticated, with applied and/or
inlaid decoration. 18thC versions have fielded, and sometimes shaped, panels. Stile, bun or bracket feet according to date.
Oak, walnut, occasionally mahogany; elm, chestnut and other local woods (though few examples survive).
Framed and panelled; earliest with pegged, but most with glued, mortise-and-tenon joints. Early drawers rebated and nailed; later dovetailed and glued (see CHESTS OF DRAWERS: EARLY PANELLED OAK.
DECORATION AND HANDLES
Carving, inlay, applied mouldings in 17thC. Turned wooden knobs replaced by brass ball handles after 1700.
Stain; wax polish.
RELATIVE VALUES
Earliest and most decorative invariably in four figures; plain 18thC in three. Prices considerably reduced if stand is wrong.
For further details of all points see CHESTS OF DRAWERS: EARLY PANELLED OAK, P. 84 and CHESTS OF DRAWERS, VENEERED.
The term ‘dower’ is self-explanatory, but is also used to describe the 18thC chest of trunk form mounted on a low frame, with a flat or domed top, heavy brass carrying handles, a shaped and/or carved apron or frieze,
and cabriole, bracket or straight feet according to date. Imported Oriental lacquer trunks were often displayed in this way (on English-made stands) in the 18thC and 19thC.
Late 17th learly- 18thC leather bunk mounted on a stand.

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 By 1730 these seem to have been replaced by the more capacious tallboy.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