Diminutive Sideboard
Walnut
Southside Virginia, Probably Petersburg
Circa 1795
Xxx x xxx
The sideboard form appeared in the South in a wide variety of drawer configurations, styles and proportions. Though the practical use was always directed towards food service, they also provided storage and a surface for display of plate or ceramics. This charming, diminutive example, sometimes called a server, fulfills all these requirements but could be utilized in a smaller breakfast room or a larger more formal dining room. The slightly beaded, tapered legs, corner brackets, cockbeaded drawers and overall restraint were characteristics of furniture produced in Petersburg, Virginia for homes in the western tidewater and piedmont.
