Urn-shaped boxes were designed by Adam, and are shown in his drawings, to stand upon pedestals at each end of the side table, to be used, one for ice-water, and one for hot water, for the butler to wash the silver, not so plentiful then as now. Very soon the urn-shaped boxes were utilized to hold the knives, forks and spoons. Adam, Shearer, Hepplewhite and Sheraton show designs for knife-boxes, many of them elaborately carved or inlaid, but they must have been very costly, and within the means only of such noblemen, who, in Sheraton’s words, “are unrestrained with the thoughts of expensiveness.”
The usual shape of knife-box found is shown in Illustration [78], owned by Mrs. Clarence R. Hyde, of Brooklyn, N. Y. It is inlaid both outside and inside and the handles and fittings are of silver. The books of designs show boxes of this shape, with the lid put back, as in this illustration, and used to support a large silver plate.
Illus. 78.—Knife-box, 1790.
Mahogany was chiefly used in sideboards, with inlaying of satinwood, holly, king, tulip, snake, zebra, yew, maple, and other woods. Occasionally one finds a sideboard veneered with walnut. The curves at the front vary considerably, the ends being convex, and the centre straight; or the ends concave, forming with the centre a double curve. A sideboard with rounded ends and only four legs was made in large numbers around Philadelphia.
Illustration [79] shows a Hepplewhite sideboard owned by the writer. It is of mahogany veneered upon pine, and it was probably the work of a Connecticut cabinet-maker of about 1790. Six chairs, made to go with the sideboard, are similarly inlaid, and the knife-boxes, which have always stood upon this sideboard, have fine lines of inlaying. There is one central long drawer, beneath which, slightly recessed, are doors opening into a cupboard, and two bottle drawers, each fitted with compartments to hold four bottles. There is a cupboard at each curved end, with a drawer above. The coloring of the wood used in this sideboard is very beautiful. Each drawer and door is veneered with a bright red mahogany, with golden markings in the grain, and this is framed in dark mahogany, outlined in two lines of satinwood with an ebony line between. The oval pieces above the legs and the bell-flower design upon the legs are of satinwood. The combination of the different shades of mahogany with the light satinwood is most effective. The handles are new. When this sideboard came into the possession of the writer, the old handles had been removed and large and offensive ones of pressed brass had been fastened upon every available spot, with that love for the showy which seizes upon country people when they attempt the process known as “doing over.” The lids of the knife-boxes open back with hinges, and the interior is fitted with a slanting tray, perforated with openings of different shapes to hold knives, with the handles up, and spoons with the bowls up. A fine line of inlaying goes round each of the openings.
Illus. 79.—Hepplewhite Sideboard and Knife-boxes, about 1790.