Illustration [82] shows a Sheraton sideboard, or side-table, with brass rods extending across the back, and branches for candles at each end. This railing was designed to support the plates which were stood at the back of the sideboard, and also to keep the lids of knife and spoon boxes from falling back against the wall. The branches for candles were recommended for the light which the candles would throw upon the silver. This side-table is very large, measuring six feet eight inches in length, thirty inches in depth, and thirty-eight from the floor to the top of the table. The wood is mahogany, inlaid with satinwood. It is unusual to find such a piece in this country, and this is the only example of an old Sheraton side-table or sideboard with the brass railing which I have ever seen here. It is owned by John C. MacInnes, Esq., of Worcester, and it was inherited by him from a Scotch ancestor.
Illus. 82.—Sheraton Side-table, 1795.
Sheraton speaks of a “sideboard nine or ten feet long, as in some noblemen’s houses,” but he admits that “There are other sideboards for small dining-rooms, made without either drawers or pedestals.”
Illus. 83.—Sheraton Side-table, 1795.
A charming little side-table, or sideboard, is shown in Illustration [83], belonging to Dwight M. Prouty, Esq., of Boston. It is of mahogany, and is inlaid with three oval pieces of satinwood, giving the little piece a very light effect. The legs also add to that appearance, the reeded upper section tapering down to a turning and ending in a plain round foot, which looks almost too small for such a piece. The outline of the body is curved down to the legs, making an arch upon the front and sides.
A sideboard of distinctly Sheraton design is shown in Illustration [84]. It has the reeded legs which are the almost unmistakable mark of Sheraton. The ends of this sideboard are straight, and only the front is rounding in shape, unlike the sideboard in Illustration [75], which forms a complete semicircle.
Illus. 84.—Sheraton Sideboard with Knife-box, 1795.