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Lowboy Rendered by Isadore Goldberg (artist), c. 1938 watercolor, colored pencil, graphite and some heightening on paperboard overall: 36 x 35.1 cm (14 3/16 x 13 13/16 in.) Original IAD Object: 31 3/4"high; 33 3/4"wide; 21"deep Index of American Design 1943.8.5233 |
Object 16 of 26
In the William and Mary period, low chests on legs were often used as supports for high chests. In eighteenth-century America, they were frequently made as separate pieces, and the term "lowboy" became part of popular terminology. This lowboy, made by William Savery, the Philadelphia cabinetmaker, is a companion piece to the highboy seen in the previous frame. Like the highboy, this piece has shaped skirting with rocaille, or shell-like, carving. The cabriole legs, ending in bold claw and ball feet, are vigorously carved at the knee in an acanthus design. The quarter columns at the front corners are ornamented with vine carvings. The top is edged with a variety of carved borders: a Greek fret design lies beneath a running band of wavelike, interlaced curves called a guilloche border. The elaborately carved middle drawer dominates the decoration and brings together both shell and foliate motifs.
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