A Very Attractive Late 17th Century William And Mary Period Chest, Of Rare Small Proportions, Having Wonderful Laburnum Oyster Cut Veneers To The Top, Sides And Drawers Fronts, The Top With Geometric Strung Decoration, Over Two Short And Two Long Drawers, With Replacement Brass Handles & Cross Banded Decoration, Raised On Replacement Turned Bun Feet.

Oyster veeneering is a decorative form of veneering furniture which was initially developed during the 1660’s by English cabinet makers. It involves using very thin slices of wood cut on a cross section, as opposed to straight down the line, of woods which were plentifully available during the 17th century. The most skilled cabinet makers would then take their oyster veneers and use them in all sorts of ways to create decorative patterns on the furniture which they were making.

Although Oyster veneered items can be found throughout the early 18th century, it generally fell out of fashion around 1710, and the large majority of oyster veneered items were made between about 1680 and 1705. Oysters were taken from a few different woods including kingwood, yew, cocus, olive, walnut and laburnum.

This is a great example of a late 17th century oyster veneered chest, with great care and attention to detail paid to the decoration of the top and the drawer fronts. Some examples can be somewhat lacking in terms of the effort which has actually been put into the construction of the piece, relying heavily just on the decorative effects of the oyster cuts themselves, but this piece certainly isn’t one of those.

Just as much effort has gone into creating a pattern on the ends as well as the rest of the piece which is relatively unusual and also the secondary timbers are of a very high quality, which means the chest remains in excellent condition.

The brass handles and bun feet have been replaced at some point, which is most common on items of this age and sit extremely well on the piece.

There are no aesthetically displeasing condition issues of any kind, remarkable really considering that the chest is at least 330 years old!

As with all items which we offer for sale this chest of drawers has been attended to by our highly skilled, traditional antique furniture restorers, ensuring that it is very much ready to be placed immediately into the home.

Circa 1690.

Height 30in.
Width 36in.
Depth 21in.