Illustration [87] shows two cellarets of different styles. The cellaret of octagonal shape, brass bound, with straight legs, is of the style most commonly found. It is in the Poore collection, at Indian Hill. Cellarets of this shape figure in books of designs from 1760 to 1800. The other is oval in form, and has the leg usually attributed to the Adam brothers. This cellaret belongs to Francis H. Bigelow, Esq., of Cambridge. Both cellarets are of mahogany.
We now come to sideboards of the type called “Colonial”; why, it would be difficult to trace, since sideboards of this heavy design were not made until over twenty-five years after the time that the United States took the place of the American colonies.
The heavy Empire fashions gained such popularity in the early years of the nineteenth century that furniture made after those fashions entirely superseded the graceful slender-legged styles of Shearer, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton, and sideboards were made as heavy and clumsy as the others had been light and graceful. The cupboards were extended nearly to the floor, from which the sideboard was lifted by balls or by large carved bears’ feet. Round pillars, veneered, or carved similar to bedposts of the period, with a twist, or the pineapple and acanthus leaf, were used upon the front, and small drawers were added to the top. At about this time glass handles came into fashion, and many of these heavy sideboards have knobs of glass, either clear or opalescent. The brass handles that were used were either the rosette and ring or the knob shape.
Illus. 88.—Sideboard, 1810-1820.
Illustration [88] shows a sideboard of this period, 1810-1820, made of mahogany; the panels to the doors, the veneered pillars, and the piece at the back of the top being of a lighter and more finely marked mahogany than the rest, which is quite dark. There is a little panel inlaid in colors upon the lower rail in the centre. The handles are the rosette and ring, the smaller handles matching the large ones. This sideboard belonged to the late Colonel DeWitt of Oxford, Massachusetts, and it is now owned by W. S. G. Kennedy, Esq., of Worcester.
Another type of mahogany Empire sideboard, and one often seen, is shown in Illustration [89]. It is owned by L. J. Shapiro, Esq., of Norfolk, Virginia. The body of the sideboard is raised from the floor by very handsome bears’ feet, and the posts extending up to the drawers are carved, and topped by typical Empire carvings of wing effect, which separate the drawers. The centre section of doors is curved outward slightly, and there is a band of carving across the lower edge, below the doors.
Illus. 89.—Empire Sideboard, 1810-1820.