Sideboard
- DATE:
- 1790–1810
- MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE:
- Mahogany, pine, birch, and maple
- CLASSIFICATION:
- Furnishings
- DIMENSIONS:
- Overall: 39 7/8 x 66 5/8 x 27 3/8 in. (101.27 x 169.21 x 69.52 cm.)
- DEPARTMENT:
- Decorative Arts and Design
- LOCATION:
- American Art - 18th–19th Century, Level 4
- CREDIT LINE:
- Dallas Museum of Art, The Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Collection, Gift of the Effie and Wofford Cain Foundation
- COPYRIGHT:
- Image courtesy Dallas Museum of Art.
- OBJECT NUMBER:
- 1985.B.38
General Description
Sideboards were novel forms in late 18th-century America, as dedicated rooms for dining-and their associated furnishings-were unusual features in homes (prior to this time, dining usually took place in a multipurpose room). Used for storage as well as the display of tableware and elaborate foodstuffs, sideboards typically served multiple uses before, during, and following a meal. The lower right drawer of this example is fitted with dividers to store liquor bottles.
Excerpt from
Kevin W. Tucker, DMA unpublished material, Label text (1985.B.38), 2006.
Fun Facts
Branded into the back of the sideboard is the name "Arthur Little." While no history of provenance accompanied the piece, it seems likely the sideboard was once part of the collection of the noted Boston Colonial Revival architect of that name.
Web Resources
-
Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
View an interior photograph of the dining room in the Arthur Little House, 35 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, Mass., photograph dates to sometime before 1923 -
Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
View an interior photograph of the dining room mantel in the Arthur Little House, 35 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, Mass. -
The British Museum
View the French print entitled, L'après-dinée des Anglais that illustrates the sexual segregation of after-dinner entertainment in the early 19th century that enabled men to use the sideboard as a place to relieve themselves