16 
II o u s e 
Garden 
fusion worse confounded in the matter of 
nomenclature. The most practical thing we 
can do, therefore, is frankly to recognize that 
arntoire, dressoir, buffet, bahut, and several 
more are most comprehensive terms, some of 
them, indeed, being occasionally interchange¬ 
able; and to classify the dominant types ac¬ 
cording to the contemporary English and Ital¬ 
ian pieces they most resemble, analogues with 
which we are familiar and which have definite 
generic names. 
(1) Chests, of the simple type with lifting 
lid, and their relationships, are too well known 
to need special comment save to say that some 
of the old French chests have drawers in the 
base. 
(2) Hutches and their related types may be 
classified by the possession of doors in front 
and often of shallow drawers below the doors. 
Apart from these essential features, the hutch 
might either sit flat on the floor, being about 
the height of a chest or a little higher; might 
be raised on feet and have a well defined base; 
or might be elevated on legs to the height of 
a low cabinet, with the under space open. It 
permitted considerable latitude of interpreta¬ 
tion and was altogether a most useful piece 
of furniture and suited to a variety of purposes. 
Buffets and Dressers 
Among the distinguishing characteristics oj the oaken cabinet to the right is the 
arabesque inlay in black composition in the three round panels. Second half of 
the 16 lit Century. Courtesy of the South Kensington Museum 
(3) The buffet family showed a diversity of 
renderings. One common type was very simi¬ 
lar in structure to the Italian credenza, was 
about 4' high, was raised on a low molded 
base or on feet and had doors in front. In 
addition it might have shallow drawers either 
in the base or else above the doors. Another 
form of buffet had an open base and, immedi¬ 
ately atop the supports, drawers and a super¬ 
structure with cupboards. In other words, it 
was closely analogous to the English court 
cupboard. The dividing line between buffets 
of this stamp and certain of the dressers and. 
credences is practically indistinguishable. One 
is tempted to believe that names were applied 
to articles of this sort according to the uses to 
which they were individually put rather than, 
according to their physical structure. Another 
form, still, was merely a table with solid back 
from top of table to floor and a row of pillars 
or colonettes in front. 
(4) The dresser, dressoir or credence had an 
open base with supports holding up a cup¬ 
board, and there might or might not be drawers 
below this cupboard. Again, the base might 
Ire a closed cupboard with superstructure as in 
the foregoing species. Still again, it might 
The lion masque and 
strap work scrolls of this 
carved oak chest desig¬ 
nate it as from the latter 
half of the \bth Century. 
Courtesy of the South 
Kensington Museum 
Comparable to the con¬ 
temporary English court 
cupboard there was made 
in France the buffet, of 
carved walnut with open 
base and cupboard top. 
This is of late 16 th Cen¬ 
tury make 
The bahut or hutch, as 
shown in the type below, 
had doors in front and 
below them a shallow 
drawer or drawers. This 
architecturally carved de¬ 
sign shows Italian in¬ 
fluence. 16 th Century 
