Antique Chest Of Drawers

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 was no longer hinged. The chest became the chest of drawers.
Chests and chests of drawers of 17thC type continued to be made in country districts well into the 18thC as indicated by the overlapping dates of this section and the next.
Before 1675, angular forms decorated in Anglo-Dutch Renaissance and baroque styles. New England types with regional differences then appear (see DECORATION below). Known makers include: W. Searle and T. Dennis of Ipswich, J. Allis and S. Belding of Hadley and Hatfield, Massachusetts; P. Blin of Wethersfield, Connecticut.
Oak, tulipwood; wide pine boards for lids of chests, linings of chests of drawers.
Boarded (or plank)chest: Simple type, the boards nailed to edges of ends.
Panelled chest: Panels bevelled at edges and inserted into rebates (rabbets, rabbits) in frame joined by mortise-and-tenon joints
Above, boarded construction, splits in wood.
secured with pegs. Lid not panelled  solid board(s) moulded on edge.
Panelled chest of drawers: Ends as for chests, above. Top fixed with nails, pegs or blocks glued inside. Back boarded or panelled.
Drawers assembled with nails and/or crude dovetails, grooves cut in sides to run on runners nailed to frame.
Drawer with grooves for side runners.
Chests, before 1675: Flat carving of foliage. Regional differences then develop.
After 1675, Hadley, Massachusetts: Flat carving of tulips, palm leaves, covering whole of front  frame as well as panels.
Hartford    County, Connecticut: Carved sunflowers and applied split turnings.
Chests of drawers, from 1675: Essex County, Massachusetts: Drawer-fronts moulded on edges and divided into small areas by split turnings, also applied to stiles (see SEATS 1690 to 1725, p. 294).
A painted and ebonised and pine chest about 1675-1710.
Handles: Iron, or wood painted black. Wood handles turned or shaped to an oval and set at an angle (’turtle-back’).
Painting and staining in black, red and blue with local or imported pigments used at first mainly to decorate carving but, in some districts, replacing it by 1700. Split turnings painted black to imitate ebony.
American chests and chests of drawers pre-1740 are rare and expensive, but some have made a trip to the UK and got lost. A 17thC English oak chest was seldom carved all over its front like the Hadley type; neither did it have a pine top. Such features might be treated by English buyers as evidence of later carving and a replaced top. They might be right, but you could get lucky.
Below panelled construction: panel moues freely ill rebate.

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.

English Oak, Walnut and Mahogany Chests of Drawers

William and Mary period - c. 1690 - Walnut chest of drawers on bun feet, (not original). Inlaid with boxwood stringing lines in geometric pattern on top. Possibly placed originally on a low stand. Note the deep top edge moulding is more towards Queen Anne type but half-round or ‘D’ moulding on carcase fronts remains. Fairly straight-grained veneer but sides veneered and cross banded.
Price Range: 150-300
Value points: See section notes

Walnut chest of drawers of later period, c.1740-50, country made. The drawers are pine lined. The thin top edge moulding gives an example of later lack of boldness and the original double ‘D’ moulding around the drawers has been replaced by a single ‘D’ which is a little too clumsy at this width. Drawer fronts veneered in plain straight-grained walnut with little figure. Cross banding of drawers is ‘half-herring-bone’ , i.e. at 45 degrees which is typical of country pieces which emulated an earlier period. The top quartered and
cross banded in plain walnut. This piece has added interest in that the sides, instead of being plain pine or oak are, in fact, solid walnut (- factor).
Price Range: $75-$120
Value points: Treatment of sides i. e. Veneered  Solid Walnut
There are still plenty of these chests about but beware many ‘improved’ or recently veneered country pieces.

Mid-18th century mahogany chest of drawers on bracket feet. A thin thumb-nail top edge moulding round the top is echoed by the ovolo, lip moulding around the drawers. A very typical example of mid-18th century chests of fair quality and which are also found in oak and pine with occasional country variations.
Price Range: $50-$70
Value points: Figure of wood
(Faded mahogany is popular)

Mid-18th century mahogany chest of drawers. c. 1760. The four graduated drawers are cock beaded around the edges. The deep ovolo top edge moulding is repeated in the moulding around the base, above the shaped bracket feet. The figure of the wood is dark and rich.
Price Range: $60-$90
Value points: Size width. 3′ 0″ or under  2′ 9″ or under  2′ 6″ or under -
Figure of wood

A mid-18th century chest of drawers of high quality; of a design normally found in mahogany. Bold thumb-nail top edge moulding; brushing slide; chamfered and reeded sides; a fine graduation of drawer sizes; all indicate the quality of the piece. The bracket feet are boldly shaped and the plain ’swan neck’ handles are contemporary. Note the replacement of escutcheon plates by thethinthreaded key hole fittings.
Price Range: $100-$150 Value points: Brushing slide

A George III mahogany serpentine chest of drawers of a design frequently called Chippendale. Note the brushing slide and blind fretted edges. The decorated handles are of a high quality, matching the piece. The mahogany is of a fine faded colour and the mouldings and bracket feet are boldly executed. These pieces are of a heavier and bulkier character and the general rule of small size equating with higher value does not necessarily apply in this case.
Price Range: $400-$650
Value points: Brushing slide
Bold sweep of front elevation Fretted edges
Pronounced Mouldings

A late 18th century mahogany bow fronted chest of drawers with brushing slide. The four graduated drawers are cock beaded. The splayed feet have a nicely shaped apron between them. The top is cross banded with satinwood, an unusual feature of quality.
Price Range: $185-$225
Value points: Cross banding of top

A late 18th century bow fronted mahogany chest of three drawers with brushing slide, splayed feet and attractive apron.
Price range: $120 to $160
Value points: Low proportions  Brushing slide

A late 18th century serpentine fronted mahogany low chest of drawers on splayed feet. There is an inlaid line of boxwood stringing around the top edge.
Price Range: $75-$120
Value points: Size: since this is a low chest, the width is not as critical a factor in the price as with normal chests, but still affects value.

Mahogany chest on chest of drawers, or tallboy with brushing slide. The top half has a dentil frieze under the cornice and the sides are chamfered and reeded. The bracket feet are of serpentine shape. The swan-neck handles are original.
Price Range: $80-$100
Value points: Size is not such an important factor, since most pieces are fairly large and for this reason not expensive. A height of 6′ 6″ or under would however add to value.

A late 18th century mahogany bow fronted chest of drawers. This piece is of lower proportions, with deep drawers, and being thus somewhat smaller than the previous example, is in a slightly higher price range. The cock beading around the drawer edges can be seen clearly.
Price Range: $60-$85
Value points: See section notes

A late 18th century bow fronted mahogany chest of drawers. With ring handles and splayed feet.
Price Range: $45-$75
Value points: Size: Height 3′ 6″ or under

A Regency period mahogany bow-fronted chest of drawers with an applied solid twist or rope decoration down the front edge corners. The top and bottom edges are reeded. The turned legs give a hint of the rather bulbous turned examples that followed in the Victorian period. Although rather tall, the proportion of such chests is still good, particularly bearing in mind the larger houses which they were designed for.
Price Range: $5O- E1OO
Value points: Quality of wood used i. e. figure and decorative effect

Victorian mahogany bow-fronted chest of drawers on turned feet. The drawers have a heavy cock bead and the turned wooden knobs are also mahogany. The size of such chests tends to be large and cumbersome; the drawers less in number and hence deeper than earlier types.
Price Range: $10$-20
Value points: Satinwood …. Figured veneers

A Victorian chest of drawers of c. 1860, Usually made in mahogany. The ponderous moulded front of the top drawer throws the piece off balance and the bottom, with a solid flat base, raised slightly by turned knob feet, cannot hope to compensate in design. The turned wooden knobs are dear to the Victorian hearts and were frequently used as a replacement on chests of earlier periods in order to ‘improve’ them or bring them up to date - a vile practice which has ruined many fine 18th century pieces. Due to the fact that
they are extremely solidly made, regrettably large numbers of these chests have survived.
Price Range: $7-$I2
Value points: None

A very fine William and Mary period - c. 1690 - chest of drawers in oyster veneer, decorated with stringing lines in geometrical patterns. The wood used is laburnum, which gives a rich dark colour with a. hard, close grain. Even the half-round carcase edge mouldings around the drawers, the cross banding and the top and bottom edge ogee mouldings are in this wood, but the bun feet are probably walnut. Note that the sides are also decorated in the same manner as the top.
Price Range: 500-750
Value points: Quality of decoration  Decorated sides

William and Mary period - c. 1690 - chest of drawers veneered in laburnum oyster pieces. Possibly Anglo-Dutch due to low positioning of locks and the thin drawer linings. Top veneered in concentric circles of oysters. Sides also veneered in oysters with wide cross banding. Width 3ft. Note heavy top edge moulding similar to thumbnail and half-round or ‘D’ moulding on carcase front around drawers. Cross banding of drawers, top and sides in laburnum also. Handles not original.
Price Range: 250-450
Value points: Colour, patination and oyster pattern

A very fine William and Mary period - c. 1690 - chest of drawers in oyster veneer, decorated with stringing lines in geometrical patterns. The wood used is laburnum, which gives a rich dark colour with a hard, close grain. Even the half-round carcase edge mouldings around the drawers, the cross banding and the top and bottom edge ogee-mouldings are in this wood, but the bun feet are probably walnut. Note that the sides are also decorated in the same manner as the top.
Price Range: 500-750
Value points: Quality of decoration  Decorated sides

Early walnut chest of drawers - c. 1700 - inlaid with stringing lines in boxwood. Note heavy thumb-nail moulding around edge of top echoed in the moulding around the base above the bracket feet, possibly originally on low stand as feet are not original. The grain on original veneered feet is usually vertical, both to follow the direc - tion of the grain on the drawer front and because if it were cross -ways the veneer would chip off more easily. Half-round or ‘D’ moulding on carcase fronts around drawers. All mouldings cross-grained and in short lengths.
Price Range: $150-$350
Value points: Quality of decoration

Late 17th century - c. 1680 - oak chest of drawers often misnamed Jacobean. Note the simple mouldings and fielded panelling of the drawers. The chest is made in two halves for ease of transportation. The bun feet are typical of the William and Mary period. The drawers run on side rails on a rebate in the thick drawer linings, which are normally in oak.
The thin top has a thumb-nail lip edge moulding. The handles are original.*
Price Range: $80-$120
Value points: Veneered panels in other woods  Intricacy of mitred drawer fronts  Applied split baluster decoration  Decorated inlay
Original feet
*Note the deep second drawers.

A late 17th century oak chest of drawers similar to the previous example. The mitred drawer fronts are more decorated and the balance of the piece is lighter. There is a convex moulding under the top and the carcase frame continues down to form the feet; a feature of an earlier period. The knobs are not original.
Price Range: $75-$110
Value points: Veneered panels and inlaid decoration

17th-18th Century English Oak, Walnut and Mahogany Chests

Early 17th century oak chest with three front panels decorated with stylised geometric carving. The rails are also carved with an arched pattern typical of the period. On this chest the plain solid sides are of walnut whi ch was much more commonly used wood than is generally supposed but of which less survived than oak due to its greater susceptibility to woodworm.
Price Range: $60-$90
Value points: Depth, intricacy and profusion of carving  The addition of human faces, figures.
Dating and initials (if genuine)

Mid-17th century oak chest with panelled front, top and sides. The front panels and rails are carved in fairly shallow decoration of a botanical nature. The escutcheon plate has been added later.
Price Range: $35-$45
Value points: Quality of carving …

Mid-17th century oak chest with fielded panels. diamond shaped inlay of light wood (box or holly).
Price Range: 35-45
Value points: Decoration  Internal herb tray
Mouldings  Original lock
Inlay of flowers etc.

Mid-17th century plain oak chest with three undecorated panels in lid and front. Ornamentation of the frieze by carving is typical of these pieces.
Price Range: $30-$40
Value Points: Decoration  Dating
Coats of Arms
Warning:- These simple chests were often ‘improved’ in the Victorian period by elaborate carving; in an attempt to simulate age, the quality of the carving looks very amateur.

Late 17th century oak chest with single drawer beneath; the evolution of the chest of drawers is commencing. The split baluster decoration and the mouldings are similar to those found on chests of drawers.
Price Range: $45-$65
Value points: Quality of mouldings and decorations

A walnut and marquetry chest of c. 1680 decorated with various coloured marquetries on an ebony ground. The panels are an unusual formation. There is a drawer in the base and the chest rests upon a separate stand. The bun feet are replacements.
Price Range: $450-$550
Value points: Complexity of colour and design of decoration

Early 18th century oak chest, with two drawers under and three fielded front panels. It is on bracket feet and shows the transition from simple lidded chests to chests of drawers.
The ovolo mouldings on the drawers suggest it is not of an earlier date.
Price Range: $25-$35
Value points: Inlay or decoration

Early 18th century chest veneered in walnut of highfigure on an oak carcase. It is decorated with herring-bone inlay. There are, carrying handles at each end; the base is separate.
Price Range: $90-$110
Value points: Figure of walnut Trunk lid

Mid-18th century elm country chest of simple construction from solid planks. Integral base and bracket feet. Common side dovetails show on the front face.
Price Range: 10-15
Value points: Mouldings around lid and base Figure and grain of wood

A walnut chest of c. 1740 date, decorated with inlaid boxwood stringing to give a cross banded effect. The small double lip moulding around the drawers, on the carcase fronts, is a later refinement of ‘double D’ mouldings of an earlierperiod. The top edge moulding is also a Georgian refinement. It is interesting to note the three small top drawers, usually a warning that the piece has been on a stand, but in this case the veneered top could be an indication that this need not be so.
Price Range: $100-$150
Value points: Quality of decoration  Veneered sides

English Chests and Chests of Drawers of 17th, 18th and 19th Century
The earliest forms of chest were simple coffer-like constructions with solid sides reaching to the floor to act as feet. By the 17th century, a joined frame construction with panels had appeared and these panels, and also sometimes the hinged lid, were decorated with carving and even inlays. The evolution of the clothing used in the later part of the 17th century made it undesirable to keep heaping clothes on top of each other inside these pieces and drawers appeared in sides to separate them.
The chest of drawers is said to have appeared about 1650 and the first forms were half chest and half cabinet. Usually there was one deep drawer either in the upper or lower part and shallower ones enclosed by doors. The drawers were grooved in the sides to run on bearers fixed to the carcase until after the Restoration, when bottom drawer runners appeared.
On the early types the fronts are often decorated with mitred geometrical mouldings and split balusters. Inlays of bone, ivory and mother of pearl are to be found on the more important pieces. With the advent of walnut fashions towards the end of the century, much more sophisticated and decorative chests of drawers, usually on stands with twist or cup-form legs appeared. The bun foot used on such chests gradually gave way, in ordinary chests to bracket feet, and to those on stands to the cabriole leg so popular in the first
half of the 18th century. Oak continued to be used during the evolutionary period of walnut from 1670-1730, after which mahogany became much more general except in country pieces, which were made in a variety of woods.
Value Points -
Oak Period (to 1690)
-Value points are given individually for early oak chests. For chests of drawers however the following points must be taken as common to all examples:-
Walnut Period (1670-1740)
-In chests on stands,the existence of an original stand gives a  factor. (The legs, stretchers and feet on such stands have nearly always been replaced due to damage and rot.
Marquetry
-Choice of veneers, figures and patination
-Original brass handles and keyhole plates
-Faded cross-grain mouldings in short lengths
-Veneered top (on chests or stands)  (this was left unveneered on pieces originally over about 5′6″ high).
-Veneered and cross banded sides  (country pieces left sidesoak or pine and the side mouldings were cut along the grain instead of across it).
-Oak drawer linings  (country pieces usually lined in pine). Original bracket or bun feet
For chests of drawers, or chests on stands the following notation applies -
-Quartered top. The best quality chests of drawers had the tops veneered in four matching pieces to form a fine formal pattern in veneers. Lesser quality pieces sometimes have the top veneered in two matching halves, while country pieces sometimes had one plain sheet of top veneer.
-’Feather’ or ‘herring-bone’ inlay or cross banding
Mahogany Period (1730 onwards)
In mahogany examples the following points may be taken to commonly affect value:-
Choice of wood and figure
(Early Spanish mahogany or decoratively figured wood add greatly to the price).
-Original handles and keyhole plates
-Oak linings
-Serpentine bracket feet on later examples
-Colour and patination
(Fading mahogany is considered particularly desirable).
For all chests, it may be taken that structural condition and originality are important value points.

CHESTS OF DRAWERS  transitional
Retains the geometric cushion-shaped mouldings of the previous period but the mouldings are no longer the dominant feature, instead the eye is drawn to the fine burr walnut veneers. In this chest therefore are combined the decorative applied pieces and an almost dentil moulding with the new technique of veneering. The bracket feet are later. The price will very much depend on patina. c.1680
The transformation to all-over walnut veneered carcase is complete, but the maker had still the old designs very much in mind. The geometric design of the fragmented square is used on the veneered top and bottom drawer, while the second drawer continues the familiar cross design, see the bottom drawer of the chest above. Even the broad edges of the front have long thin straight shapes where applied balusters might previously have been situated and the centre of the drawers reflects the traditional division of the design
into two. Again the feet have been replaced. Note the half-round cross-grained moulding between the drawers  typical of the walnut period. c.1700
The increasing use of contrasting wood to add to the decorative quality of geometrically moulded chests might eventually have led to the idea of veneering on flat surfaces.
However the Continental influences which flooded into England at the Restoration brought foreign craftsmen as well as foreign ideas, among them veneering, so that the changeover took place quickly. These three examples show interesting transitional pieces.

CHESTS  mule and dower
Richly decorated with the desirable features of human figures on the stiles and inlaid decoration surrounded by two formal carved arches. The decorative effect is further enhanced by the use of diamond-shaped
alternating black and white inlaid wood. Typical of the flamboyant decoration of the period, only the bun feet and the odd-looking moulding along the side (but not the front) seem later additions. One would expect to see the end stiles continued through to make short feet like the third example on this page. c. 1610
The moulded fronts to the bottom drawers and the use of very fine inlay decorations of ivory and mother-of-pearl suggest a date about the Restoration. It is strictly not a mule chest as the middle now comes out in
the form of a drawer, a feature that may have been added later. The broad half-round moulding on top of quite a deep straight bottom edge suggests that the piece once sat on a stand. c. 1665
The ogee-shaped bracket feet, the fielded panels together with the quarter-round reeded pillars set into the end stiles, all point to a date in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. c. 1770
A plain mule chest with fielded panels and drawers. A simple oak piece that needs good colour and patination to make it desirable, unless, that is, you go through the following procedure. Remove the lid, turn the chest upside down and reverse the drawers. Cut off the legs and attach to the new base (made from floorboards). Replace the lid which now becomes the top, and make side mouldings in place of the strips which held the lid together. Turn the two end panels into doors. Complete by fitting a dresser rack, ideally with a canopy (see Dressers). Place in a provincial auction or better still a marquee sale and put a reserve of 1,500. Ask the auctioneer to catalogue it for you. Hope nobody notices the wear on the top side of the drawer linings on your “fine and unusual small canopy Welsh dresser, early eighteenth century” or best of all can’t get near enough to have a proper look. c.1720
A walnut chest on stand with bracket feet, the chest fitted with carrying handles. The piece features herring-bone inlays, crossbanding and cross-grained mouldings of the period. The price reflects the value of period walnut. 1720-1730
A lacquer chest/trunk on stand with simpler cabriole legs ending in pad feet. Carrying handles are fitted and the top is slightly domed. This shape affects the price, since the domed top does not provide a utilitarian
surface. All lacquer should be regarded with profound suspicion. 1720-1740

Blanket chest

1. All wood split or quarter-sawn, with more figure and grain than planking.
2. Timbers were not clamped or cleated - the lid in particular should show signs of bowing, curving and shrinking across the width.
3. Feet of both board chests and frame construction worn and frayed with use and wear on stone floors, and from damp.
4. Uneven shape of pegs and dowels, hand cut from green wood.
5. Good patination on underside of lid where it has been opened and handled over a long period of time.
6. Wood around lock and hasp, worn and polished with use and age.
7. On frame construction, panels with grain running from top to bottom.
8. Panels chamfered to slot into frames - should be slightly loose on end-grain from shrinkage of timber.
9. Interior wood with no splintering along grain - worn smooth and dust-dry from age and use.
10. Front and back timbers overlapping side edges.
Likely restoration and repair
11. New lids where originals have split or cracked. Timber will not be thick enough and lack bowing or curving.
12. Back timber of lids split where hinges have taken the strain and may be patched, replaced, pegged or repaired.
13. Made up in whole or part from bits and pieces of old panelling and timbers. Hard for novice to detect, but clear signs of saw marks on edges; lack of patination on inside and around lock and hasp are usually obvious.
14. On frame construction, original plain panels replaced with cut-down pieces from church panelling or house panelling. Particularly prevalent with ‘linenfold’ panelling, which, if original, should butt on to frame and not finish decoratively above and below it.
Historical background
Oak coffers and chests owed their origins to the ’sumpter chests’ or trunks which were strapped to baggage animals to carry the goods belonging to the household when travelling. However, the term ‘blanket chest’ is of eighteenth-century origins: blankets as we understand them were not known until the seventeenth century.
The earliest form of coffer was simply a slab-sided box or ‘coffin’ known as a ‘boarded chest’. The sides extended to the ground and were cut in a plain V-shape to form feet.
They were held together with wooden dowel pins or clumsy iron clout nails, and each piece of the chest was made from a single piece of wood. The lid had two big iron or steel strap hinges, and there was an iron lock and hasp fixed to the outside of the chest. Framing and panelling replaced this crude construction in the sixteenth century, a technique learned by carpenters for house building and for embellishing churches.
`Wainscot oak’ was imported in large quantities from the mid-sixteenth century onwards, and coffers and chests were made with frames of sawn timber and inset panels of riven wood, chamfered to fit into grooves in the frame. Panels were carved in ‘linenfold’ and arched Gothic decoration, and everyday coffers and chests had four short legs, extensions of the side frames, and became less clumsily made and more decorative.
Until the end of the seventeenth century chests were restricted to the richer classes who had possessions which needed to be stored. With the growth of the middle class they became more prevalent as storage for the more elaborate dress of the day and richer households were often equipped with chests with separate drawers for ruffs, collars, doublets, stockings, hose and gloves. Poor families kept their best clothes in simply made chests constructed in the same way as a century before.
Construction and materials
Chests and coffers were made in oak, the principal wood for most early English furniture until the mid-seventeenth century. Some were made in chestnut, and elm was also used, but it is not an entirely suitable wood since it tends to split and crack with changes of temperature and humidity. Grander Elizabethan chests were also made in cypress, known to repel moths, and from the beginning of the eighteenth century, in cedarwood. Even in later years, blanket chests were often lined with cedarwood.
The slab-sided construction of board chests continued well into the eighteenth century in country districts, but in general it was superseded in the sixteenth century by frame-and-panel construction which remained the basis for all storage furniture until well into the eighteenth century. All joins were made with wooden dowelling pegs or iron nails, with mortise-andtenon joints from the end of the sixteenth century.
Variations
Continental
While oak was the principal national timber for English furniture in the early years, so walnut and chestnut were extensively used on the Continent, particularly in France, and pine and deal in Scandinavia. Chests of these woods are almost certainly not English, as can be seen from their size, shape and decoration. The most common chests, usually of a later date, tend to be Flemish, often constructed from richly decorated and carved Gothic panelling from churches, or from the bottoms of built-in dressers and cupboards of
panelled rooms. A few very rare chests and coffers were
Detail
Panels were decorated with carving and chamfered on the back surface so that they would slot into the frames. Early panel shapes varied, but in length rather than in depth.
Elizabethan panels were smaller and squarer, but by the
seventeenth century they were much bigger.
Many early board chests were originally painted in bright colours, but some have bands of simple chip-carving in arches and geometric shapes. The legs of frame and panel chests were a continuation of the side frame and were not decorated or shaped in any way. Iron or steel locks were mounted externally, or internally with a square lockplate on the outside and a hinged hasp fastening, all secured with iron nails. Lids had simple edge moulding, but from c.1610 onwards, were finished with lip moulding.
made in chestnut before the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but one is unlikely to come across these rare originals. Pine was not used in England until the mid-nineteenth century.
Below: oak ‘mule chest’, with carved timber frames, characteristic of Continental pieces and Victorian
‘improvements’.
Below left: this is almost a dresser base, ornately decorated with applied moulding in seventeenth-century Flemish style.
Reproductions
Nineteenth century
The great age of reproduction oak was the Victorian Tudor revival, when, from c.1830 onwards, simple furniture of an earlier age was faithfully reproduced, as well as being made up from bits and pieces of genuinely antique panels. There was a great vogue for ‘old oak’ in the 1860s and 1870s, still occasionally referred to as ‘Wardour Street oak’ from the famous firm of London reproduction furniture-makers who had their workshops there.
The Victorians often
‘improved’ the appearance of original chests with carving, which was often quite skilful, but the grooves will lack the patina and roundness one would expect on a really old chest.
Price bands
Coffers, sixteenth century, original timbers,
Plain board chest, $300-500. With carved stiles, $400-600.
Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Flemish, $800-1,400.
Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English,
$1,000-1,400.
Linenfold, $900-1,200.
Coffers with later additions, Victorian ‘improvement’, $300–500.
Below: frame-and-panel linenfold chest in solid, well-worn oak.

Bow-fronted chest of drawers

1. Fine, well-figured solid mahogany with well-matched mahogany veneer on drawer fronts.
2. Oak-lined drawers to c.1800 with slim cockbeaded outline and plain swan-necked drawer handles. Oval backplates from C.1810.
3. Delicate, double or triple reeding or thumb moulding to sides of the top on the overhang. Plain back edge is flush with backing planks.
4. Backs in unfinished timber of same age and patination, with gaps where shrinkage has occurred with time.
5. Curved fronts of dustboards in separate piece.
6. Graduated drawer depths.
7. Four full-width drawers to c.1800 when a pair of top drawers replaced the single one.
8. Bracket feet made separately to c.1800 with a thin line of moulding around the base. From c.1800c.1840 feet are integral with side timbers.
9. After c. 1830, chests of drawers taller, often with five flights of drawers, on round, turned feet.
Likely restoration and repair
10. From c.1850 made in much larger sizes, which may be cut down to better-looking
`Sheraton’ shape. Top pair of drawers removed, piece raised with splayed bracket feet to add height; new top with ‘Sheraton’ reeding often added as a separate fillet which can be seen from the back.
11. Later, five-flight chests of drawers cut down in similar fashion, with turned feet
replaced with splayed bracket feet and shaped apron added the join will show on the sides.
12. Drawer handles set too close to edge on small chest, which indicates it has probably been cut down, the turned wooden handles removed and new brass backplates added to conceal the original holes. No patination around the new backplates.
Historical background
It is probable that the bow-fronted chest of drawers was an evolution of the flamboyant French commode and the bombe shape so favoured by the Dutch. The bombe shape, with its double curves and sinuously swelling sides, was never as popular in England as plainer, serpentine shapes, although Chippendale incorporated the curved sides into many of his French-influenced designs. There is evidence of Hepplewhite’s use of bow-fronted shapes, particularly in his designs for bedroom and boudoir furniture, but it would seem that it was Sheraton who first produced this enduring shape which has become, like his sideboard, a standard piece of English furniture.
Few bow-fronted chests of drawers can be directly attributed to a particular
designer, and most of the fine early examples are more often described as ‘George III’, a generous label since it covers 60 years, from 1760 to 1820. The finest early mahogany examples fall into the early part of this period, when they were made with curving bracket feet, fine cockbeading on the graduated drawers and brushing slides. Later versions are of the more familiar early nineteenth-century design, with shaped aprons and slightly splayed feet, made in mahogany veneer on a red pine or, sometimes, a cheap mahogany
carcase.
Bow-fronted chests of drawers are seldom found in any other wood or veneer except dark mahogany, and it is fair to assume that they were intended for gentlemen’s dressing rooms and bedrooms, at least until the end of the nineteenth century.
Construction and materials
Early bow-fronted chests of drawers followed the same construction principles as serpentine-fronted chests of drawers, in that they were made in solid wood with veneered drawer-fronts and deep thumb moulding around three sides of the top. There was no overhang at the back. A line of moulding ran round the base, which was mounted on curving or slightly splayed bracket feet. From c.1780 reeded moulding was introduced around the tops, and was believed to have been originated by Thomas Sheraton. Drawers were still oak-lined and veneered, and were outlined with a thin, typically late eighteenth century, line of cockbeading.
There were four graduated single drawers until c.1800 when frequently a pair of drawers replaced the single one in the top flight. Up to this date the slim top drawer was sometimes fitted as a writing drawer, with the brushing slide serving a double purpose.
Drawers had runners on small blocks on either side of the dustboards. They were made in two pieces, with the curved front edge cut separately. As with all other storage pieces, the drawers and
dustboards did not run the full depth of the piece, but stopped a little short to allow air to circulate inside. Backs were of unfinished planking, oak or cheaper-grade mahogany.
From c.1820 the bow-front became more accentuated as techniques of bending and steaming timber began to be used, and from this date carcases were often made of red pine.
Detail
Plain brass-rimmed locks were replaced with Victorian Bramah locks from c.1846, and all drawers, at least until the end of the nineteenth century, were fitted with locks. From c.1850 the front edge of the top was often given an exaggerated curve to add visually to the line of the bow-front. Top edges of veneered chests of drawers were mainly flush from c.1810-30, while solid tops had rounded moulding. Few bow-fronts after c.1820 incorporated brushing slides, and by c.1850 turned wooden knobs often replaced brass
drawer handles, and rounded turned feet replaced the splayed bracket feet and curving apron.
Variations
There are many Continental variations of the bombe-shaped chest of drawers with its double curve and swelling front. They were often made in walnut, and were sometimes late variations of earlier walnut marquetry pieces. They tend to have very decorative handles and escutcheons and oak-lined drawers, but although at first glance they seem to resemble a bow-front, they are more serpentine in shape.
It is extremely unlikely that bow-fronted chests of drawers were ever originally made in pine. The main point about pine furniture in the nineteenth century was that it was cheap to make in quantity, which would not have been true of a bow-fronted piece. If these are encountered, it is more likely that they were originally well-made carcases of chests of drawers which have been stripped of their thin veneer to add value during the fashion for stripped-pine furniture.
George III bow fronted mahogany commode.
Reproductions
The most common reproduction is the Sheraton copy, with the familiar late Victorian or early Edwardian version of the conch shell or spray of flowers inlaid in paler-coloured panels, as seen on other bedroom furniture of the same period. The mahogany veneer is thin and without good figuring, the escutcheons frequently of bone or ivory, and the piece may well have been French polished to increase the glossiness of its appearance. American pine carcases were common for these reproductions, and the quality of the
finish in many cases is poor, with rough edges under the machine-cut curved apron, and drawers which do not fit properly.
However, much good-quality `Sheraton revival’ furniture was made during the first decades of the twentieth century, and among the favourite pieces for gentlemen’s dressing rooms and bedrooms was the bow-fronted chest of drawers, in many cases far better made than those of the late nineteenth century. They were made by furniture-makers who supplied the main
furnishing department stores of the day. Once seen and handled, they are not easily confused with the cheap run-of-the mill reproductions with shoddy workmanship of the same period.
Price bands
Hepplewhite period, fine figured veneer and brushing slide,$1,100-1,500.
Satinwood veneer, top quality, some inlay and decoration, 2,000+.
George III splayed feet, good veneer, 900-1,200.
Early Victorian good quality c.1850, 600-900.
Late nineteenth-century, variable quality, $300-750.

Serpentine chest of drawers

Curving shapes began to come into furniture design from the reign of Queen Anne onwards, as can be seen from the pediments of secretaire bookcases and, in particular, the spoon-back chair with cabriole legs. Techniques of cutting wood into curved shapes took time to master, and it was not until the Chippendale period, when many features of French design were incorporated into English taste, that serpentine-fronted desks and chests of drawers came into fashion, around c.1750 onwards.
Those at the top of the social scale in England who were privileged enough to own and enjoy beautiful, immaculately furnished houses were not allowed to keep them all to themselves however. All the country seats of wealthy landowners and aristocratic families had ‘open days’ when groups of people came to look over every room in the house, bedrooms included. Provincial ladies and gentlemen arrived to demand entry whether the owners were in residence or not, and all furniture became as much a part of the show
as the house itself. Chests of drawers, up to now no more than functional domestic pieces of furniture, evolved into the English equivalent of the French ‘drawing-room commode’, and even the plainest pieces, derived from Chippendale’s grand designs, had curved aprons and feet, and were made in beautifully figured woods and veneers.
The serpentine-fronted chest of drawers was made throughout the mid-eighteenth century and was only replaced by the bow-fronted design during the Sheraton period.
Signs of authenticity
1. Fine-grained, well-figured San Domingo or Cuban mahogany on cheaper mahogany carcase, or imported red Scandinavian pine.
2. Flush-sunk escutcheons to locks with no ornamental surround.
3. Drawer handles with plain swan-neck handles, cast-brass bolt-heads with pummel pins, small circular backplates.
4. From c.1770 drawer bottoms with grain running side to side with central bearer for extra support.
5. Drawers and dustboards not running, full depth of, piece.
6. Dustboards in two joined pieces with front shaped piece added separately.
7. Where chest of drawers has canted corners, matching canted corners to bracket feet.
8. Where there are carved pillar motifs on sides with rounded
bases, there is a corresponding rounded profile to bracket feet.
9. Graduated drawer depths, sometimes with baize-lined fitted top drawer.
10. Brushing slides with polished surface, cleated edges, small loop handles.
11. Lip, thumb or reeded moulding to tops with good overhang, sometimes serpentine-shape on sides.
Likely restoration and repair
12. Plain canted corners with later carving or reeding to increase value. Wood will seem rough to the touch compared to rest of piece.
13. Dustboards in single piece of timber indicates a replacement for originals. Suspect more restoration if this is the case.
14. Plain square-cornered bracket feet replacing originals
with rounded or canted corners where originals have been damaged.
15. New tops where originals have been damaged with alcohol-based lotions, etc. or reveneered for same reason. Back edges of new top will not have same patination as sides, the veneer will be thinner.
16. Brushing slides damaged and removed: lock rail to top drawer should be examined for disturbance, top edges of sides with reeding or carving may finish abruptly.
17. Cockbeading too thick and secured with pins indicates replacement of originals, or new drawer fronts.
18. Drawer-front carcase with grain of wood running in continuous line  made from steam-moulded timbers of considerably later date.
Construction and materials
Serpentine-fronted chests of drawers were made in a similar way to spoon-back chairs. The timber was cut in curving shapes which were then veneered because of the partially exposed end-grain. The construction of carcases began to change from the mid-eighteenth century onwards, with new joints for sides, such as the mitred dovetail which joined woods at right-angles on the end-grain and allowed the sides of chest furniture to be built with vertical timbers, as opposed to the earlier method of horizontal frame and panel
construction.
Many of these new techniques became possible because of the use of cheaper mahogany as carcase wood which did not split as easily as more coarsely grained oak. The tops of chests of drawers were no
longer made to conceal the joins with small cornice moulding, but could be laid over the carcase and secured, then edged like table tops with thumb or lip moulding. Canted corners were often part of the design of serpentine-fronted chests of drawers as an aid to
construction as much as a decorative feature.
Detail
Drawers were edged with elegant cock beading, handles were simple swan-necked brass with cast-brass bolts and pummel pins, bracket feet were joined with shaped aprons following the graceful lines of the serpentine front. Bracket feet were often curved and referred to as `French feet’ because of their resemblance to the scrolled feet of French commodes.
Variations
Curved shapes of any sort were difficult to make without sophisticated tools and techniques, and serpentine-fronted furniture of any sort is extremely rare among genuine country pieces. Some late eighteenth century plain-fronted, well-made oak chests of drawers might have tops cut in serpentine shapes as a concession to fashionable styles, but in general chests of drawers of the period continued to be made in traditional fashion, often still using the frame and panel technique which had long been superseded by mitred dovetailing on more sophisticated furniture.
If serpentine-fronted pine chests are found, they are sadly most likely to be later nineteenth-century pieces, originally veneered and recently stripped. By that period it was possible to shape softwoods by steaming and clamping them into shape and the timbers seen in the top edges of drawers will have the grain running in a continuous line.
Below left: an early George III chest in fine, well-figured walnut veneer.
Below: an example in the Chippendale manner, c.1770.
Reproductions
Nineteenth century
The serpentine front is the least copied and reproduced of all chests of drawers. The bow-front is much easier to manufacture, and serpentine-fronted designs are more heavily constructed and the shape is less commercial or convenient to manufacture. Nineteenth-century, so-called, serpentine-fronted chests of drawers on pine carcases with thin mahogany veneer were made in some quantities, but the positive sinuous curve is reduced to a mere wavy line lacking any authority. The bases presented problems, and were sometimes exaggerated with thick mouldings which protruded several inches out from the bottom drawer.
Many reproductions are Continental: French versions were much larger, originally well-veneered, but often on poor-quality oak carcases. Dutch `commodes’ in over-decorated marquetry, usually with a bulbous curved shape known as `kettle-shaped’, were made continuously and well into the nineteenth century. Ornate French serpentine commodes with heavy ormolu decoration on the canted corners, heavy drawer-handles and ornamental escutcheons were very popular at one time with the Victorians and there are still
large numbers of them around.
Price bands
Finest-quality mahogany with veneered drawer fronts and shaped bracket feet, c.1770, $2,750-3,250.
Georgian mahogany with fluted and canted corners, shaped bracket feet and brushing slide, $3,800-4,500.
Georgian with fine detailing and veneering, 14,000 5,000.
Nineteenth century versions,$1,000-1,750.