That the dresser could be made an ornamental piece of furniture and found its place as an important possession in the farmhouse, bright with an array of china, or pewter, or even silver, is amply shown by the two examples illustrated together of which the foregoing is one. The other oak dresser has at the top, where the mugs are hanging, the original mug-hooks. It is of the square-leg type and the arcaded work below the drawers gives distinction to its lines; it possesses also the broken or serpentine ends to the shelves. These curves and simple touches of ornament all contribute to make such dressers pleasing in character and representative of native work attempting with strong endeavour to produce artistic results suitable to their environment.
WILLIAM AND MARY OAK DRESSER. DATE C. 1689.
Decorated canopy, arcaded doors, inlaid and turned legs.
Height, 6 ft. 8-1/2 ins.; length, 6 ft. 4 ins.; depth, 1 ft. 8 ins.
OAK DRESSER.
Square leg type; with original mug hooks.
Height, 6 ft.; length, 4 ft. 3 ins.; depth, 1 ft. 5 ins.
The Queen Anne Cabriole Leg.—It is not to be expected that the long-continued triumph of the cabriole leg of the eighteenth century would leave the dresser without making its mark thereon. The exact curve of the cabriole leg is dangerous in the hands of a novice, who rarely if ever gets the correct balance in conjunction with the rest of the construction. Accordingly, in farmhouse pieces this tells its own story. It is as though the cabriole leg were a sudden afterthought. This touch of representative want of repose is shown in the specimen illustrated (p. [135]). In date this is about 1740, and is a somewhat rare form, having double cupboards.