Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-02-15

family would be known and bring
SuitUrS forward. no matter how IN
attractive the lady
All italian literature deals in one
way or another with the chest Low
erS and other criminals hid in them.
Painters lavished Oh them the choicest
labors of their hands. Cabinet makers
We'd one with another as to which
should produce the finest specimens.
and besides the Wood carvers artisans
were employed to inlay them with
ivory. tortoise shell. pearl. lapis laZuli
and anything that could add 10 their
richness. Gold leaf was added TO all
the other things. and little Golfer or
chest for a lady's jewels had. in addi-
ton. trays lined with choicest Genoa
velvet or silk from Damascus.
Spain was not behind other CONT
mental countries in her work upon
chests and produced Il kind of stand
ing cabinet or chest which is always
handsome and usually very ornate. |
have seen some made of ebony and
painted with the most charming de
SlGllS. each one inherent. even inc
small drawers behind the doors of tie
larger panels having their painting too.
Red velvet and gilt nails We're affected
occasionally by the Spanish on the
legs of these chests. which was very
poor art and pcriShable rs well.
1t is rather interesting To compare
these flowers of art with the simple
pieces which were made in such num-
berS in England and later in this cOun-
try. They were sometimes called 81
bic boxes" since the precious book was
carried in them along with such small
store of money and few papers rs the
| owner had. They We're small, twelve
| or fourteen inches long and had oc-
/ caSionally slanting tops. on which writ
! ing could be done
| In some the two upper sets of draw
erS are false. being really Il chest with
mock handles and locks, only the low
er locks being of use. This was a com
! mon usage after the chest acquired
drawers in its upward flight. Just why
it was so made it is hard to tell. Per
haps it saved the work of growing tn
| sides of the drawers so that they
could move on runners, which wer,
| fastened Oh the carcass of the chest
This is Of the kind called a wainscc
chest. made of holdings with the upper
and lower sets Of drawers splayed an,
the nail heads set on for ornament
| The grain of the oak shows plainly
and the piece is enormously heavy, n
it is oak throughout. Indeed. the us
age of making part of these chests o
pine was not without its merits. sine
it made them lighter articles to handle
1t was not the cabinet maker onl,
who put together these wainsco
chests, for the local carpenter was of
ten called upon to do il and to set u
the wanscOt, which was bought b,
the foot, as well. and it was not diff
cult 10 make such Il chest.
Iron was the metal allied to the an
cient oak furniture. Wooden knob
were not usual on these chests. and
think these have been added, toe
though | have found them Oh som
cupboardS of about this same period
that is. the last half of the seventeent
or the first quarter of the eighteent
century.
When the chest once began to riS
on legs it went up very high. In fac
it became decidedly inconvenient. fO
how was il possible to see the content
of those upper drawersY Presumabl
women did not keep their burea
drawers in any better order than the
do today, and it must have been dit
couraging to try to find a handke
chief, say. in one of the two small III
per ones. 1t was a curious fame
which led the makers of these chest
on legs to put four legs in front an
only two behind. with stretchers I
steady them. This was the pattern
all the early ones, and when the tw
middle legs in front were no longt
used the places where they had bee