Armoire - Armoire

Mahogany armoire with arch-paneled doors and projecting cornice. The back is constructed from two separate paneled backboards tongue and groove joined. Each backboard is composed of two stiles mortised and tenoned into the top and bottom rails. A central stile is mortised and tenoned to the two rails. Two panels are dadoed into the rails and stiles. The sides of the case are two rails mortised and tenoned into the stiles. A central panel is rabbeted around the edges to fit the dado. The exterior is veneered. Square rails are bolted to the cornice on the left and right and rest on a thin strip nailed to the front edge of the front stile. The cornice is composed of five primary pieces, three rails and two corners. The molding rails are composed of three boards that overlap and are bolted vertically together. The bottom of the cornice is glue blocked to the board that forms both its base and the ceiling of the armoire. Each corner is glue blocked and screwed to the rails on either side. A rail runs along the back of the cornice and is glue blocked in the corners. The doors are composed of two rails mortised and tenoned into two stiles with a central panel rabbeted to accommodate the dado. Each door rests on two brass hinges. The proper right drawer has its original eye hook but is missing the lock. The proper left door has its original lock and carved wooden escutcheon. A dividing panel with shelf and two drawers is fitted into the proper left side of the armoire. The divider is a solid panel with a shelf butt joined to the top and set into a rabbeted joint along the front. The joint is nailed. The opposite side rests on a rail that is nailed to the two supporting stiles. The drawers in the center rest on two rails that are screwed into the center partition and the stiles on the proper left. There are two more rails set further down for a shelf. There is an independent case with two drawers. The bottom and top boards are nailed to the two side boards. The top drawer rests on a rail that is mortised and tenoned into the sides of the case and two side rails are dadoed into the case. There are two drawer stops per drawer that are nailed to the side boards. The side boards are faced with a veneer of the same wood used for the top and bottom board. The drawer fronts are half blind dovetailed and nailed while the back is dovetailed and nailed and the base is dadoed and nailed to the back rail. Circular saw marks are visible on the base of the drawer. Each drawer has two original drawer pulls. The drawers have tulip poplar secondary wood. The base has four rails and two corner blocks. The rails are glue blocked to the base. The corners are blocked to the brackets of the bracket feet as well as the rails. The feet are in a Grecian scroll pattern and glue blocked to their corners and the rails of the base. The exterior is mahogany veneered as is the interior frame of both doors. The panel is inset with a molded surround and a semicircular arch. A strip of vertical molding is applied to the proper left door to cover the joint between two doors.