IX
SIDEBOARDS
SIDEBOARDS have had to make no bid for popularity. The curve of the serpentine and bow (the Southern serpentine is flatter than those found in the North), the concave and the convex, the fine-grained walnut, soft finished mahogany, brought from the West Indies, native cherry in feathery grain, with inlaid ebony and tulip, fine bandings of kingwood, all reflecting in detail, as in other Southern-made pieces, the harmony and inspiration of the English masters by men at work at the bench.
Sideboards arose to meet a distinct need; and in that land of plenty below George Washington's "Patomack," they have done a noble part. Once in use, they served, not only to store the wines and silver and catch, as they often did in their fine surfaces, candlelight as reflected in crested silver with which they were adorned, but when eating was in process, to act as a serving table from which food in great variety was dispensed with prodigality.
The progress of the sideboard was an orderly one. Old chests served for duty, perhaps, along with the first rude tables that were set up out of old plank boards. Old cupboards, too, offered their ample shelves to help supply the need; but when they were discarded in favor of the corner cupboard, side tables, as referred to in early inventories, came in—side tables being mentioned as early as 1725, it is recalled. Some of these tables frequently had marble tops. A large Chippendale-style table, with some carving, is shown, but no advance toward the sideboard was made in the South or elsewhere during that period. Robert Adam it was who employed side tables with pedestals, one at each end, surmounted each with an urn, one used for hot and the other for cold water, the two later to become knife boxes.
In 1788 Thomas Shearer published his unique design, showing a compact piece; and the sideboard had arrived. Hepplewhite turned his attention to it, and gave it much variety. His ideas, as well as those of Sheraton, who likewise took up the theme, were popular in great measure in the South. Following Chippendale, and into the Empire period, mahogany had
Inlay found on a sideboard made in North Carolina
been the popular wood for all pieces, and the finer sideboards were made of mahogany and elaborately inlaid. Walnut was used for other boards; and so many simple inlaid walnut sideboards have been found that one can hardly imagine a Southern
