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.”
Illus. 31.—Kettle-shaped Bureau, about 1770.
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].
Illus. 30.—Block-front Bureau, about 1770.