George I Period Walnut Chest on Chest or Tallboy of Exceptional Colour and Patination #3095

A George I Period Walnut Chest on Chest or Tallboy of Exceptional Colour and Patination, c.1720

Of conventional form but with a desirable low waist, this double chest of drawers, known variously as a chest on chest or tallboy, is a particularly fine example. The deep moulded cornice with canted corners rests above chamfered pilasters with fluted columns which imitate the classical architectural detailing in the fashionable homes of the period. Where the two sections of the piece meet there is only a narrow piece of unused space, this followed immediately by a pull out brushing slide. The drawer configuration in the upper section of the piece is quite conventional, three small drawers over three larger ones, but the drawers in the lower section use a two over three configuration which is very usual indeed, the top two small drawers also acting as additional support for the brushing slide in use. Each of the drawers are featherbanded which is a sign of additional quality. The timber used throughout is of the highest possible quality, the bookmatched timber used on the sides of the piece another example of the time spent on the piece by its maker who clearly spared no expense whatsoever in its construction.

The piece stands on finely shaped later bracket feet and is a extremely well-proportioned example. All of the drawers retain their original plate handles and escutcheons.

Clearly the most eye-catching facet of the present chest is the glorious colour and patination. The piece has acquired a sumptuous surface through years of use and polishing, the exquisite burr veneers of the walnut timber ranging in colour from golden shades to darker tones. The chest has managed to avoid any kind of over-zealous cleaning or repolishing and has aged perfectly, exactly as a connoisseur collector would wish to find such a piece.

In his book Furniture in Colour, Lanto Synge, then at Malletts of Bond Street, illustrates a similar example and there is no doubt that the present piece bears comparison with the very finest surviving examples of furniture of this form both in terms of its colour and surface and its overall design and execution.