The House of Miniatures

THoM Product # 40034 - Dower Chest

Catalog Description: The elegantly simple lines of this authentic miniature are accented with solid brass knobs on the two drawers. 1 3/4"h x 3"w x 1 3/4"d.

Circa: 1790

Style: Hepplewhite

Period: Regency

Design © 1978

Dower chests and other type of chests were usually made by a local cabinet maker or craftsman to the specification of the buyer, or made in the home shop. Some were finished as fine furniture but most were pain¬ted and decorated to reflect the tastes of the owner and to brighten up a corner of a room. Seldom were they painted by the builder, but rather the services of an itinerant painter were employed as he made his rounds of the countryside. He would exchange his labors for bed and board and perhaps a few coins if his work was exceptional. The Dower Chest was, as the name implies, a chest where the young maiden stored the fancy needlework, quilts, etc. which she crafted as her dower to her future bridegroom. Designs and decorations were as varied as the imagination of the builders and ranged from the very plain to the highly ornate. From simple chests as these eventually evolved what is called the chest of drawers and what is quite literally just that. Drawers were added for their convenience and, as the height of the chests increased, the lidded compartment at the top was eventually eliminated. These chests were passed down from generation to generation and many remarkably preserved examples have survived.

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