Sideboard

Dateca. 1800

MediumMahogany and mahogany veneer, white pine, black cherry, tulip poplar, lightwood inlays.

DimensionsOH: 40 1/2"; OW: 82 1/2"; OD: 31 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1930-12

DescriptionSideboard with six legs, flat top, straight back, serpentine sides and bow front; front divided into five sections, each section separated by the upward extension of the legs. Drawer at top of each section, the front of which conforms to the outline of the top immediately above it; large central areas of drawer fronts veneered with figured mahogany, framed by thin strips of light hardwood, and then by larger strips of cross-banded mahogany; in centers of four side drawers and on either side of larger central drawer are round, stamped brasses with bail handles. Below each end drawer is large cupboard drawer, hinged to back of legs on one side with small cast brass oval drop pulls on the opposite side; door fronts veneered and inlaid as drawer fronts and conform in plan to drawer fronts immediately above them. Below each drawer flanking the central drawer are two large veneered and inlaid areas as above, but with the addition of a large oval inlay in center, consisting of joined bellflowers and dots in repeating pattern, with rosette at top center; stamped brass with bail pull in center of oval; brass escutcheon just above rosette; the area to the left of the central cupboard is a cupboard front, the area to the right of the central cupboard is the front of a deep drawer; both areas conform to plan of serpentine-front drawer above them. Below large, central bowed drawer are two doors, recessed slightly from the drawer above, and bowed slightly, with concave blocks at either side; each door veneered and framed as above, but with the addition of an inlaid swag of elliptical loops and bell-flowers in the center of each door, keyhole escutcheon in right door. Six legs, "square" in section and tapering from top to bottom; two front legs are canted so that an edge of the leg points to the front. Legs are inlaid in the following manner on the front side, except for the pair of canted front legs which are inlaid on two sides; upper leg inlaid with large, 4-petaled flower over a series of six smaller, downwards facing bellflowers joined by small ovals; bottom portion of upper legs inlaid with an urn, from the neck of which springs a vine and flowers; solid band across leg at skirt; lower legs inlaid with motif similar to that on upper half of upper leg, enclosed within a frame of line inlay; each leg banded with inlay at ankle on three sides. Constructional notes: Two-inch overhang of top at back; upright boards (extending behind front legs) extend flush to back and are tenoned through back. In plan the two side drawers are pie-or wedge-shaped; the central drawer a segmented wedge. The two drawers in between are rectangular.

Woods: Primary: Mahogany and mahogany veneer; Secondary: White pine (drawer sides, bottoms and backboards), black cherry (behind veneer of shelving), tulip poplar (base of large drawer under second drawer from right--may not be original); lightwood inlays.
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceThe side board was purchased from Israel Sack in 1930, returned to him around 1942 for resale, as it was thought inappropriate for CW at that time; as it did not sell, it was brought back to Colonial Williamsburg. Sack purchased sideboard in 1930 from J. J. Woodruff, Somerset, Orange County, Virginia.
According to the son of the person who sold the piece of CW, the sideboard had been in Somerset, VA since 1903. Prior to that the family had lived in Irvington, NY. The family's knowledge of the piece went back to approximately 1870, when it was acquired by an ancestor, Mrs. Edward S. Jaffray, from the old Hasbouck House on Broadway in Dobbs Ferry, NY. Possibly owned by Stephen Archer or Dr. Hasbrouck at that time. For more information see Barry's Greenlaw's article on the sideboard in ANTIQUES (May, 1974).