A lowboy is an American collectors term for one type of dressing table, vanity, or duchess (

Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Engli ...

).Lowboy is a "collectors term for a dressing table made in 18th century America often with a matching

highboy A tallboy is a piece of furniture incorporating a chest of drawers and a wardrobe on top. A highboy consists of double chest of drawers (a chest-on-chest), with the lower section usually wider than the upper. A lowboy is a table-height set of dr ...

". It is a small

table Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...

with one or two rows of drawers, so called in contradistinction to the tallboy or highboy chest of drawers.

History and description

Lowboys and tallboys were favorite pieces of the 18th century, both in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

; the lowboy was most frequently used as a dressing-table, but sometimes as a side-table. It is usually made of

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

, walnut or

mahogany Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...

, with the drawer-fronts mounted with brass pulls and escutcheons. The more elegant examples in the Queen Anne, early

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

, and Chippendale styles often have cabriole legs, carved knees, and slipper or claw-and-ball feet. The fronts of some examples also are sculpted with the scallop-shell motif beneath the center drawer. Another term for a dressing table equipped with mirrors is vanity and is used to apply makeup and other fashion accessories.

Citations

General and cited references

* * ; Attribution *

External links

{{Wiktionary
Dressing Tables
collection at the Disseny Hub Barcelona Cabinets (furniture) Furniture

History and description

See also

Citations

General and cited references

External links