On 
House & Garden 
the Trail of the Highboy 
{Conlinued from page 41) 
walnut veneer, the last named being 
sometimes very handsome, 
- In the earlier William and Mary high- 
f boys or chests of drawers we find these 
* features: the top is still a straight cor¬ 
nice of heavy molding. Part way up a 
plinth divides the chest proper from the 
table part. Above this are three or four 
wide drawers, sometimes plain, some- 
tim.es ornamented with light or heavy 
moldings in panel and geometrical 
forms, each drawer front being often 
divided into two parts in this way. 
Drop handles continue and sometimes 
the key-plates are pierced. Beneath the 
plinth, in the table part, is a single wide 
drawer. Below this hangs a skirt or 
apron, cut up in the form of arches. 
The legs are typical of the period. 
There are usually six of them—four in 
front and two in back, showing the 
distinctive bell or inverted cup detail in 
the turning and with ball feet. Just 
above the feet are flat stretchers, cut 
out in scallops or in reversed curves. 
Leg Variations 
About 1700 we find the legs becoming 
somewhat more slender and the general 
effect lighter. The variations are be¬ 
coming more numerous. As a rule, the 
top cornice is lighter, usually an ogee 
molding. A similar molding, reversed, 
forms the separating plinth. The top 
drawer has, in many cases, become two 
or three smaller drawers. Below the 
plinth there are now nearly always three 
drawers in place of one. They are in 
, one tier, side by side, but the two outer 
' ones are deeper than the middle one. 
After 1700 the bell turning often gave 
place to a graceful trumpet form. 
Sometimes as many as five or six small 
drawers appeared in the table part, the 
top remaining about the same. Other 
forms of drawer pulls began to appear 
in place of the dew-drops. These high¬ 
boys were often made of pine or white- 
wood, with the drawer fronts veneered 
in figured walnut. 
Let us examine the William and Mary 
examples in this collection. The 'first 
shows the molding cornice and plinth, 
the scalloped^, apron, the typical bell 
turned legs, ball feet and scalloped un¬ 
der-bracing. All the drawers are single, 
including the lower one, but each is 
divided into two panels in geometrical 
molding designs reminiscent of the Jac¬ 
obean. The second is plainer and 
lighter in effect, with two drawers at 
the top and three below the plinth. In 
the third we have the walnut veneer 
and a new form of drawer pull. The 
six legs have given place to four slen¬ 
derer ones with turning, tending to the 
trumpet form, with crossed curved 
stretchers. 
The Lowboy 
The top part had now become so high 
that it was sometimes found inconve¬ 
nient, so the dressing table or lowboy 
came into vogue during this William 
and Mary period. The style is very 
similar to that of the lower part of the 
highboy. The earliest ones had six and 
then four legs, with the bell ■ turning, 
ball feet, and shaped stretchers; the 
scalloped apron, and one drawer fol¬ 
lowed by two or three. 
So similar is the lowboy to the table 
part of the highboy, both in this and in 
the succeeding periods, that these high¬ 
boy parts are sometimes palmed off on 
the unsuspecting as lowboys. But there 
is this difference: the height* is different, 
and in the case of William and Mary 
examples, those having six legs and 
strong underbraces are usually parts of 
highboys, while those with four legs 
i and no underbraces are surely lowboys. 
Lockwood is very clear on this point. 
He says: “The chest of drawers proper 
I has usually four drawers, graduating in 
size from 7" to 4” in width; the section 
above the fourth drawer is commonly 
divided into five drawers (he is now 
referring to the later period); a deep 
one, ornamented with the rising sun, 
with the space on each side of this 
equally divided into small drawers. The 
table part has a drawer running all the 
way across the top, and under this three 
deep drawers, the center one also hav¬ 
ing the rising sun. The large majority 
of lowboys offered for sale are the low¬ 
er or table part of the highboys, and 
can be distinguished from the dressing 
table proper by their height and the 
more substantial make of the legs. The 
genuine lowboy seldom measures over 
34" in height; the highboy table aver¬ 
ages about 38".” 
The term highboy, derived from the 
French “hautbois”, seems to have come 
in with the cabriole leg after 1710, 
though seldom used in the inventories 
of that day. However, the name has 
become so common and popular with 
us that it seems proper to use it. 
The cabriole leg was an introduction 
of the Queen Anne period, but the 
cabriole highboy more properly belongs 
to the early Georgian period. This leg 
was long, slender, moderately curved 
and terminated in the round Dutch foot. 
There were now four legs in place of 
six. At first the stretcher was used in 
a modified form, but soon disap¬ 
peared altogether. Until about 1720 
the top underwent little change, retain¬ 
ing the straight cornice. A double- 
arched top is -sometimes seen, but was 
evidently not common. Fanciful shapes 
in drawer pulls and escutcheons were 
used and acorn drops appeared on the 
aprons. Carving began to be em¬ 
ployed, including fluted pilasters and 
the fan or sunburst. The lowboy fol¬ 
lowed the same style. 
Walnut, pine, maple, and cherry were 
the woods commonly used, often with 
walnut veneering and sometimes ja¬ 
panned. The fashion of japanning was 
at its height about 1720. 
Queen Anne Examples 
Let us glance now at these Queen 
Anne examples. The highboy shows the 
typical cabriole legs and Dutch feet 
with the square tops. This is a ja¬ 
panned piece and shows a bit of the 
carving. Some of the drawer pulls and 
the acorn drops are missing. The low¬ 
boy is of a slightly later period, with 
the carvdng a little more elaborate and 
with the acorn drops below. 
Somewhere between 1720 and 1730 
the final touch of elegance was given to 
the highboy in the scroll, broken arch, 
or bonnet top, though flat tops con¬ 
tinued to be made until about 1730. 
Flame-shaped finials were added and 
nearly always there was the sunburst 
carving between the two lower and the 
fwo upper drawers. An excellent ex¬ 
ample of this style is shown here. We 
find the four large drawers and two 
small ones in the upper part, the bonnet 
top and flame finials, the sunburst carv¬ 
ing, the acorn drops and cabriole legs. 
After 1740 or thereabouts, the high¬ 
boy began to be built a little lower on 
its legs. The cabriole leg was more 
sharply bowed, and the ball-and-claw 
foot superseded the round Dutch foot. 
Mahogany had become the fashionable 
wood. An increased ornateness is to be 
observed in the example we have of this 
type. 
Chippendale Influence 
-After 1750, with the growth of the 
Chippendale influence, this ornateness 
became more marked and the carving 
became more various. About this time, 
too, we have the so-called chest-on- 
chests of drawers—highboys with draw¬ 
ers reaching almost to the floor—com¬ 
modious but somewhat cumbersome 
{Continued on page 72) 
