THE word “bureau” is now used to designate low chests of drawers. Chippendale called such pieces “commode tables” or “commode bureau tables.” As desks with slanting lids for a long period during the eighteenth century were called “bureaus” or “bureau desks,” the probability is that chests of drawers which resembled desks in the construction of the lower part went by the name of “bureau tables” because of the flat table-top. Hepplewhite called such pieces “commodes” or “chests of drawers.” As the general name by which they are now known is “bureau,” it has seemed simpler to call them so in this chapter.

Bureaus were made of mahogany, birch, or cherry, and occasionally of maple, while a few have been found of rosewood. Walnut was not used in serpentine or swell front bureaus, although walnut chests of drawers are not uncommon, which look like the top part of a high chest, with bracket feet, and handles of an early design; and so far as the writer’s observation goes, few bureaus with three or four drawers were made of walnut.

The wood usually employed in the finest bureaus is mahogany, and the earliest ones are small, with the serpentine, block, or straight front, and with the top considerably larger than the body, projecting nearly an inch and a half over the front and sides, the edge shaped like the drawer fronts. The early handles are large and like letter E in Illustration 11.

The block front is, like the serpentine or yoke front, carved from one thick board. It is found more frequently in this country than in England. The block-front bureau in Illustration 28 is owned by Dwight M. Prouty, Esq., of Boston, and is a very good example, with the original handles.

The small bureau in Illustration 29 is in the Warner house in Portsmouth. It is of mahogany, with an unusual form of block front, the blocking being rounded. The shape of the board top corresponds to the curves upon the front of the drawers. The handles are large, and upon each end is a massive handle to lift the bureau by.

Illustration 30 shows a block-front bureau owned by the writer. Chippendale gives a design of a bureau similar to this, with three drawers upon rather high legs, under the name of “commode table.”

The height of the legs brings the level of the bureau top about the same as one with four drawers. One handle and one escutcheon were remaining upon this bureau, and the others were cast from them. The block front with its unusually fine shells would indicate that this piece, which came from Colchester, Connecticut, was made by the same Newport cabinet-maker as the writing-table in Illustration 106, and the double chest in Illustration 21, which were made about 1765. The looking-glass in the illustration is described upon page 410.

Illustration 31 shows a mahogany bureau of the style known as “kettle” shape, owned by Charles R. Waters, Esq., of Salem. Desks and secretaries were occasionally made with the lower part in this style, and many modern pieces of Dutch marqueterie with kettle fronts are sold as antiques. But little marqueterie furniture was brought to this country in old times, and even among the descendants of Dutch families in New York State it is almost impossible to find any genuine old pieces of Dutch marqueterie.

A bureau with serpentine front is shown in Illustration 32. It is made in two sections, the upper part with four drawers being set into the moulding around the base in the same manner as the top part of a high-boy sets into the lower part. The bureau is owned by Charles Sibley, Esq., of Worcester.

The bureaus described so far all have the small single moulding upon the frame around the drawer. From the time when the designs of Shearer and Hepplewhite became fashionable, bureaus were made with a fine bead moulding upon the edge of the drawer itself or without any moulding.

The serpentine-front bureau in Illustration 33 belongs to Mrs. Johnson-Hudson of Stratford, Connecticut. The corners are cut off so as to form the effect of a narrow pillar, which is, like the drawers and the bracket feet, inlaid with fine lines of holly. The bracket feet and the handles would indicate that this bureau was made before 1789.

A bureau of the finest Hepplewhite type is shown in Illustration 34, owned by Mrs. Charles H. Carroll of Worcester. The base has the French foot which was so much used by Hepplewhite, which is entirely different from Chippendale’s French foot. The curves of the lower edge, which are outlined with a line of holly, are unusually graceful; the knobs are brass.

Illustration 35 shows the styles of handles chiefly found upon pieces of furniture with drawers, after 1770. A is a handle which was used during the last years of the Chippendale period, and the first years of the Hepplewhite. B and C are the oval pressed brass handles found upon Hepplewhite furniture. They were made round as well as oval, and were in various designs; the eagle with thirteen stars, a serpent, a beehive, a spray of flowers, or heads of historic personages—Washington and Jefferson being the favorites.

D is the rosette and ring handle, of which E shows an elaborate form. These handles were used upon Sheraton pieces and also upon the heavy veneered mahogany furniture made during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. F is the brass knob handle used from 1800 to 1820. G is the glass knob which, in clear and opalescent glass, came into use about 1815 and which is found upon furniture made for twenty years after that date, after which time wooden knobs were used, often displacing the old brass handles.

Looking-glasses made to swing in a frame are mentioned in inventories of 1750, and about that date may be given to the dressing-glass with drawers, shown in Illustration 36. It was owned by Lucy Flucker, who took it with her when, in opposition to her parents’ wishes, she married in 1774 the patriot General Knox. It is now in the possession of the Hon. James Phinney Baxter, Esq., of Portland, Maine. Such dressing-glasses were intended to stand upon a dressing-table or bureau.

A bureau and dressing-glass owned by the writer are shown in Illustration 37. The bureau is of cherry, with the drawer fronts veneered in mahogany edged with satinwood. A row of fine inlaying runs around the edge of the top and beneath the drawers. This lower line of inlaying appears upon inexpensive bureaus of this period, and seems to have been considered indispensable to the finish of a bureau. The dressing-glass is of mahogany and satinwood with fine inlaying around the frame of the glass and the edge of the stand. The base of the bureau is of a plain type, while that of the dressing-glass has the same graceful curves that appear in Illustration 34.

The bureaus in Illustration 34 and Illustration 37 are in the Hepplewhite style. The bureau and dressing-glass in Illustration 38 are distinctly Sheraton, of the best style. They are owned by Dwight Blaney, Esq., of Boston, and were probably made about 1810. The carving upon the bureau legs and upon the corners and side supports to the dressing-glass is finely executed. The handles to the drawers are brass knobs.

A bureau of the same date is shown in Illustration 39. It was owned originally by William F. Lane, Esq., of Boston. Mr. Lane had several children, for whom he had miniature pieces of furniture made, the little sofa in Illustration 228 being one. The small bureau upon the top of the large one was part of a bedroom set, which included a tiny four-post bedstead.

This miniature furniture was of mahogany like the large pieces. The handles upon the large bureau are not original. They should be rosette and ring, or knobs similar to those upon the small bureau. The bureaus are now owned by a daughter of Mr. Lane, Mrs. Thomas H. Gage of Worcester.

Bureaus of this style were frequently made of cherry with the drawer fronts of curly or bird’s-eye maple, the fluted pillars at the corner and the frame around the drawers being of cherry or mahogany.

There was added to the bureau about this time—perhaps evolved from the dressing-glass with drawers—an upper tier of shallow drawers, usually three. The dressing-table shown in Illustration 40 is owned by Charles H. Morse, Esq., of Charlestown, New Hampshire. It stands upon high legs turned and reeded, and a dressing-glass is attached above the three little drawers. The handles should be rings or knobs.

The case of drawers with closet above, in Illustration 41, is owned by Mrs. Thomas H. Gage, of Worcester. It is of mahogany, the doors of the closet being of especially handsome wood. The carving at the top of the fluted legs is fine, and the piece of furniture is massive and commodious.

The bureau in Illustration 42 is also owned by Mrs. Gage, and is a very good specimen of the furniture in the heavy style fashionable during the first quarter of the nineteenth century.

It was probably made to match a four-post bedstead with twisted posts surmounted by pineapples. The drawer fronts are veneered, like those of all the bureaus illustrated in this chapter except the first four, and there is no moulding upon the edge of the drawers.

Illustration 43 shows the heaviest form of bureau, made about the same time as the last one shown, with heavily carved pillars and bears’ feet. The drawer fronts are veneered and have no moulding upon the edge. This bureau is owned by Mrs. S. B. Woodward of Worcester, and it is a fine example of the furniture after the style of Empire pieces.

The bureau in Illustration 44 is owned by Charles H. Morse, Esq., of Charlestown, and shows the latest type of Empire bureau, with ball feet, and large round veneered pillars. The three Empire bureaus shown have the last touch that could be added, a back piece above the tier of small drawers.

The bureaus have the top drawer of the body projecting beyond the three lower drawers, and supported by the pillars at the sides. This and the shallow tier of small drawers, and the back piece are typical features of the Empire bureau, which may have the rosette and ring handle or the knob of brass or glass.

The toilet conveniences of our ancestors seem to our eyes most inadequate, and it is impossible that a very free use of water was customary, with the tiny bowls and pitchers which were used and the small and inconvenient washstands. A “bason frame” appears in an inventory of 1654. Chippendale designed “bason stands” which were simply a tripod stand, into the top of which the basin fitted.

They were also called wig stands because they were kept in the dressing-room where the fine gentleman halted to remove his hat, and powder his wig. The basin rested in the opening in the top, and in the little drawers were kept the powder and other accessories of the toilet. The depression in the shelf was for the ewer, probably bottle shaped, to rest in, after the gentleman had poured the water into the basin, to dip his fingers in after powdering his wig.

The charming little basin or wig stand in Illustration 45 is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The wood is mahogany and the feet are a flattened type of claw and ball, giving the little stand, with its basin and ewer, some stability, unless an unwary pointed toe should be caught by the spreading legs. The acanthus leaf is carved on the knees, and the chamfered corners above have an applied fret.

The drawings of Shearer, Hepplewhite and Sheraton show both square and corner washstands of mahogany with slender legs.

The washstand in Illustration 46 is of mahogany, and differs from the usual corner stand in having the enclosed cupboard. It was made from a Hepplewhite design and is owned by Francis H. Bigelow, Esq., of Cambridge.

The corner washstand in Illustration 47 is owned by the writer. It is of mahogany, and the drawers are finely inlaid, probably after a Sheraton design.

The little towel-rack is of somewhat later date and is made of maple, stained. The washbowl and pitcher are dark-blue Staffordshire ware, with the well-known design of the “Tomb of Franklin” upon them.

While the corner washstand possessed the virtues of taking up but little room, and being out of the way, the latter consideration must have been keenly felt by those who, with head thrust into the corner, were obliged to use it.

A square washstand of more convenient shape, but still constructed for the small bowl and pitcher, is shown in Illustration 48. It is of mahogany and is in the style that was used from 1815 to 1830. This washstand is owned by Mrs. E. A. Morse of Worcester.

Both corner and square washstands have an opening in the top, into which was set the washbowl, and two—sometimes three—small openings for the little cups which were used to hold the soap.

Hepplewhite’s book, published in 1789, shows designs of “night tables” like the one in Illustration 49, but they are not often found in this country.

This table is of mahogany, with tambour doors, and a carved rim around the top, pierced at each side to form a handle. The wood of the interior of the drawer is oak, showing that the table was probably made in England. It is owned by the writer.

There are several drawings in the books of Hepplewhite and Sheraton of washstands and toilet-tables with complicated arrangements for looking-glasses and toilet appurtenances, but such pieces of furniture could not have been common even in England, and certainly were not in this country.

In Illustration 288 upon page 294 is shown a piano which can be used as a toilet-table, with a looking-glass and trays for various articles, but it must have been, even when new, regarded less from the utilitarian side, and rather as a novel and ornamental piece of furniture.

A washstand of different design is shown in Illustration 50. The front is of bird’s-eye maple and mahogany, and the top is of curly maple with mahogany inlay around the edge. The sides are mahogany. The two drawers are shams, and the top lifts on a hinge disclosing a compartment for a pitcher and bowl. The tapering legs end in a spade foot, and a large brass handle is upon each side. The other handles are brass knobs. This stand was made after instructions given by Sheraton thus, “The advantage of this kind of basin stand is, that they may stand in a genteel room, without giving offense to the eye, their appearance being somewhat like a cabinet.” The washstand is owned by the writer.

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