Antique Side Tables and Square Leg Lowboy
TABLES side, pad feet and square leg lowboys
In this section there are a lot of country or provincial pieces with the result that assessment of quality and hence value become more subjective than in the previous section. One may find a feature enormously attractive which to another collector has a glaring design fault. This is, after all, part of the fun of collecting but makes writing this section difficult.
In case anyone gets the idea that any cabriole is better than any pad foot this example will disillusion them. In pearwood with a glorious patination, attractive front fret and primitive drawer arrangement, it is a fine example of a country piece, the sort almost ignored up until the early 1960s. 1730-1740
832 In walnut with a quartered top and oval inlay in the centre. One immediately notices the broad deep ogee moulding which is a typical late walnut period feature. The legs are straight with only slight moulding on the
outside edge to relieve their rather dull appearance. One can see why the straight Chippendale legs are chamfered. c.1740
In terms of quality the Chippendale mahogany example deserves perhaps to come next. With a simple cock-beaded drawer arrangement, an attractive fret, and in a faded nut brown colour, this example is more elegant than the previous piece. The gap in the moulding is damage. c. 1760 Assume well restored.
n oak, turned legs with pad feet. It makes an interesting comparison with the next example. This has a better fret, half-round corners on the top (but not the quarter-round moulding of many of the pieces in the cabriole section). In addition the drawers fit better, but that may be condition rather than design. c.1730
A good wide overhanging top, genuine cockbeading and the side fret in theory these should put this ahead of the previous example, but fail to do so because of the dull little fret. Notice that both examples have the
same type of moulding, a version as seen in 832, but of necessity flattened out as the wood is thinner; 832 is walnut veneered on pine which was cheaper than oak so that a deep moulding was more feasible. Knobs
here look later. c. 1755
1, 000Back to the Chippendale straight leg with a slight moulding to the outside edge. The drawers are marked with an incised line in an attempt to simulate cockbeading.
The charming fret makes it a much more attractive piece. c. 1755
The neo-classical demand for the tapered leg has not helped this heavily designed oak piece (which incidentally could be the best technically constructed piece in this section). Frankly not very desirable; 1780-1810
This example is, however, slightly smaller than the previous piece but the top has no moulding and the front is a little plain. The front incidentally is made out of two pieces of wood, a fact which does not necessarily
detract but does indicate a less generous attitude as demonstrated by the mean fret. However if it had superb patination all would be overlooked. c. 1735
Tags: 1960s, arrangement, cabriole, chippendale, colour, drawers, inlay, lowboys, mahogany, oval, pad foot, piece, Side Tables, square leg, Tables, walnut veneer