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Tallboy (furniture)
Encyclopedia
A tallboy is a piece of furniture
incorporating a double chest of drawers
and a wardrobe
on top. A highboy is similar but consists of both upper and lower having drawers, many of which may not be doubled, and some of which were tripled. A lowboy, is a table-height set of drawers designed to hold a clothes chest, which had been the predominant place one stored clothes for many centuries.
Where as the chest of drawers in its familiar form contains three long and two short drawers, the tallboy has five, six, or seven long drawers, and two short ones. It is a very late 17th-century development of the smaller chest. The early examples are walnut, but by far the largest portion of the many that have survived are mahogany
, this being the wood most frequently employed in the 18th century for the construction of furniture, especially the more massive pieces. Occasionally the walnut at the beginning of the vogue was inlaid, just as satinwood
varieties were inlaid, depending for relief upon carved cornice
-mouldings or gardrooning, and upon handsome brass
handles and escutcheons
.
The tallboy was the wardrobe of the 18th century, but it eventually gave place to the modern type of wardrobe, which, with its sliding doors, was speedily found to be not only capacious as its predecessor but more convenient of access. The topmost drawers of the tallboy could only be reached by the use of bed steps, and the disappearance of high beds and the consequent disuse of steps exercised a certain influence in displacing a characteristic piece of furniture which was popular for at least a century. This is in contrast to a lower piece of furniture called a lowboy
.
became very ornate. The most elaborate pieces came from Philadelphia. At that time it was one of the most important cities both before and after the American Revolution
and was a center of style and culture.
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
incorporating a double chest of drawers
Chest of drawers
A chest of drawers, also called a dresser or a bureau, is a piece of furniture that has multiple parallel, horizontal drawers stacked one above another...
and a wardrobe
Wardrobe
A Wardrobe is a cabinet used for storing clothes.Wardrobe may also refer to:* Wardrobe , a full set of multiple clothing items* Wardrobe , part of royal administration in medieval England...
on top. A highboy is similar but consists of both upper and lower having drawers, many of which may not be doubled, and some of which were tripled. A lowboy, is a table-height set of drawers designed to hold a clothes chest, which had been the predominant place one stored clothes for many centuries.
Where as the chest of drawers in its familiar form contains three long and two short drawers, the tallboy has five, six, or seven long drawers, and two short ones. It is a very late 17th-century development of the smaller chest. The early examples are walnut, but by far the largest portion of the many that have survived are mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
, this being the wood most frequently employed in the 18th century for the construction of furniture, especially the more massive pieces. Occasionally the walnut at the beginning of the vogue was inlaid, just as satinwood
Satinwood
Satinwood can mean the following:*A name for a wood that can be polished to a high gloss derived from certain species of the flowering plant family Rutaceae:**Chloroxylon swietenia, Ceylon satinwood or East Indian satinwood...
varieties were inlaid, depending for relief upon carved cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
-mouldings or gardrooning, and upon handsome brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
handles and escutcheons
Escutcheon (furniture)
An escutcheon is a general term for a decorative plate used to conceal a functioning, non-architectural item. Escutcheons are most often used in conjunction with mechanical, electrical, and plumbing components and fixtures where a pipe, tube, or conduit passes through a wall [or other material]...
.
The tallboy was the wardrobe of the 18th century, but it eventually gave place to the modern type of wardrobe, which, with its sliding doors, was speedily found to be not only capacious as its predecessor but more convenient of access. The topmost drawers of the tallboy could only be reached by the use of bed steps, and the disappearance of high beds and the consequent disuse of steps exercised a certain influence in displacing a characteristic piece of furniture which was popular for at least a century. This is in contrast to a lower piece of furniture called a lowboy
Lowboy
A lowboy is a small table with one or two rows of drawers, so called in contradistinction to the tallboy or highboy chest of drawers. Both were favourite pieces of the 18th century, both in England and in the United States; the lowboy was most frequently used as a dressing-table , but sometimes as...
.
Philadelphia
In the mid-18th century, highboys in North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
became very ornate. The most elaborate pieces came from Philadelphia. At that time it was one of the most important cities both before and after the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
and was a center of style and culture.