The House of Miniatures

THoM Product # 40022 - Chippendale Straight Top Highboy

Catalog Description: Authentically detailed miniature of a Philadelphia antique, with gleaming solid brass hardware and the popular "scallop" design on the lower middle drawer. 6 1/2"h x 3 1/2"w x 2"d.

Circa: 1750

Style: Chippendale

Period: Colonial

Design © 1977

The highboy, or tallboy as it was called in England, was very popular during the Queen Anne Period and most of Chippendale's designs for the highboy were merely adaptations of those of the earlier periods. In the Colonies, makers further adapted Chippendale's designs to fit the needs and tastes of their customers. The straight-top Highboy that we have reproduced in miniature, is one of those adaptations. The original was made in Philadelphia between 1725 and 1750. This type of adaptation was in keeping with Chippendale's own philosophy. In his book, "The Gentleman and Cabinet-Makers Director", Chippendale wrote that this book, "as being circulated to assist the one in the Choice, and the other in the Execution of the Designs' which are so contrived that if no one drawing should singly answer the Gentleman's Taste, there will yet be found a Variety of Hints, sufficient to construct a new one". Chippendale used mahogany almost exclusively in constructing these pieces and the dark luster of his finishes were complimented by the gleaming brass of the intricately shaped hardware.

Links To Articles and Offerings