Category Archives: Drawers
A George II Walnut Serpentine Chest – Part Six
Eighteenth-century bow and serpentine drawer fronts were constructed in one of two ways: The most basic method was to simply saw the sweeping shape out of the solid (fig. 1). The other technique (to minimise distortion and ultimately, poor fit) … Continue reading
A William III Ash Chest-on-Stand – Part Seven
The drawers were constructed in period-correct fashion with through dovetails front and back. The central veneers on the drawer fronts are the more figured stuff from the ends of the leaves of quarter cut veneer I used for the stripy … Continue reading
Picture this LIV
In the earlier post, Picture This XXXV, I illustrated a mid-eighteenth-century mahogany bureau whose top drawer partially concealed the loper pockets. An earlier bureau (fig. 1) with not dissimilar extended drawer fronts sold at Christie’s The Connoisseur’s Eye sale yesterday, … Continue reading
Drawer and Drawer Aperture Decoration
Since man first made tools, utensils and weapons from wood, he has burnt, carved and scraped decoration into it. Even in their simplest form, the rails and stiles of early joiner-made coffers usually exhibit chamfered edges (fig. 1), though more … Continue reading
Picture This XXXV
Lopers are employed in bachelor’s chests etc. to support their fold-out leaves and in bureaux to support their falls. I covered the installation of lopers in A George II ash bureau – Part VII. As I mentioned during the construction … Continue reading
Drawer Front Dovetail Evolution
Until the mid-seventeenth-century, drawer sides were normally nailed into rebates cut in the ends of the drawer fronts (figure 1). All that prevented such a drawer front from being torn from the drawer when the handles were pulled were two … Continue reading
Constructing a Mid-Eighteenth-Century Drawer
Drawers went through several evolutionary phases (more on them, perhaps, in a later post) before arriving at this apotheosis, circa 1725, and continuing with just two changes (a mid-century 90° rotation of the drawer bottoms and a minor change to the … Continue reading
Pegs and 'Tails 