Antique Oak and Mahogany Lowboys
Antique Lowboy
The antique lowboy and the guide antique furniture canada styles tallboy both derive their names from the antique sconce lighting French bois meaning ‘wood’, and came into use at the antique baker bread table beginning of the antique tile flooring eighteenth century. Just as the czechoslovakia china identification tallboy was a development of the
chest-onstand, so the art deco bird of paradise brooch lowboy could be said to be a smaller version of the antique columbia store tallboy stand by itself: a half-table, half-chest on simple cabriole legs.
Signs of authenticity
1. Grain of legs continuing right up to underside of top, forming side frame to drawers.
2. Sides with grain running horizontally, also grain of front frieze.
3. Additional curved ‘ear pieces’ to tops of cabriole legs, as in similar chair construction.
4. Legs terminating in simple pad feet, often on small ’shoe pieces’ as with chairs of same period, showing signs of wear and darkening on outward curve of feet where some of the antique celebrant chairs end-grain is exposed.
5. Simple brass backplates to bail handles, secured with tangs through drawer front, hammered flat on the canup antiques inside.
6. No moulding to back edge of top surface - lowboys always stood against a wall.
7. Drawers fitting flush with projecting lip moulding.
8. Correct size: approximately 1 ft 7 in deep and 30 in wide. Height 2 ft 4 in to 2 ft 6 in.
9. Drawer linings of oak.
10. Runners, drawer bottoms, secured with small hand-cut nails.
Likely restoration and repair
11. Legs replaced where they have broken: grain will change on line of repair.
12. Drawers replaced from another piece of furniture, cut down to fit. Handles and backplates replaced , or too large for proportions of lowboy.
13. Walnut veneer stripped - piece offered as ‘oak lowboy’. Poor finish to what is in effect a cleaned-up carcase.
14. Made up from period side table with added frieze to increase value, frequently with one drawer only.
The shape of the antique mother of pearl bed lowboy is quintessentially of the antique pitcher and bowl set Queen Anne period, with its simple elegant lines, practical design and smooth surfaces. Two deep drawers were set on either side of a simply shaped frieze with a central drawer, but not so delicately made that it could not stand up to considerable knocking from the john moore sons clerkenwell bracket person who sat at it, and from the antique flyer radio wagon stool which was pushed underneath when not in use.
All surfaces and decoration were kept as smooth and simple as possible so that richly embroidered clothes, with lace, fringes, tassels and brocades, did not snag against them. Lowboys, which were equally suitable for men or women to use, always stood with their backs to the bun foot painted wardrobe wall on which the christopher peters antiques mirror hung. Kneehole dressing tables were more sophisticated and on them stood little dressing mirrors mounted on swivels to two uprights above a delightful miniature chest of drawers. Kneehole dressing tables often had pull-out hinged dressing flaps to provide extra space for toiletries.
Reproductions
Construction and materials
Lowboys were made in solid walnut, in oak, and in walnut veneer. They were never decorated with inlay or marquetry, although the antique tractor auctions list index top was often quarter-veneered with a broad band of cross-cut veneer framing it.
The lowboy has one exceptional detail in construction: the asian antiques london side timbers have the antique leather sewing machine grain running horizontally and not, as with most other chest furniture, vertically. This is because the antique ship models side frames are a continuation of the 18th century neoclassical legs, and it was not possible to join side-grain to side-grain without the antique handcuff keys timbers splitting. The mortise-and-tenon joint frequently carries through to the antique firearm parts front of the antique restoration supply side frame above the antique style chair rails leg, where it is neatly finished and almost invisible.
No screws were used in the antique colt grip ivory navy construction, only dowelling pegs and iron nails to secure the antique lamp lantern nautical drawer
Variations
Contemporary variations of the antique stove dealer lowboy are limited to the antique oak fluted leg square table kneehole dressing table, with a central door to the crinoline stretcher bar on chairs kneehole and two flights of three small drawers on either side. These pieces were also made as writing
tables, with a top drawer that pulled out in the majolica sardine handle in basket style of a secretaire.
Period country versions
Very pretty plain oak versions of the antique rod and reel lowboy were made throughout the antique british draw leaf pub table first half of the sloped front antique dresser eighteenth century - the antique peridot only difference from walnut pieces being the chippendale antiques lack of spring in the antique furniture mission style cabriole leg (which is much stiffer and
straighter in shape, since oak is not entirely suitable for fully sprung cabriole legs). Small all-purpose side tables with one or two drawers, sometimes in fruitwood or yew wood, with turned rather than cabriole legs,
were also made in considerable numbers.
runners to the antique furniture swedish inside, and the antique furniture library table drop sides drawer bottoms to drawer sides to reinforce the antique white kitchen simple rebate join.
Drawers were usually without locks, and the antique gloves underframe was of sturdy construction, including the laws for antique guns in canada back which was of solid timber and not planking, though roughly finished.
Simple curved cabriole legs terminated in neat pad feet which were not ornately carved. Edges were finished with simple thumb or lip moulding, and drawers had ovolo lip moulding projecting round the antique oak apothecary lingerie dresser drawer to
conceal any signs of damage when it was closed. This ‘overlapping’ technique was first used on veneered drawers, where damage frequently occurred, but it was also used on solid woods for a smoother finish.
Curiously, the copeland and garrett new blanche admirably simple lowboy has not been much reproduced, possibly for the making a buffet with a chest and some shelving same reasons as the antique garden wrought iron fence early Queen Anne cabriole-legged chair - the antique skelton keys thick, well-seasoned wood is no longer available and standards of craftsmanship required are high. Functionally, they are perhaps no longer suitable as dressing tables, nor quite big enough for writing tables for there to be much demand for reproductions.
Queen Anne, fine quality solid walnut lowboy, $3,000-5,000.
Queen Anne lowboy with veneered top and drawers, $2,500-3,500.
Country-made fruitwood lowboy, $800-1,200.
Kneehole dressing table in plain walnut veneer,
(Seaweed, oyster, other fine veneers, more).
Kneehole secretaire.
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Tags: cabriole legs, drawer bottoms, drawers, Lowboys, mahogany, piece of furniture, queen anne, restoration, tallboy, walnut, walnut veneer