Armoire - Armoire

Mahogany armoire with arched paneled doors above two lower drawers. The base of the cornice has three rails with the front lapped over the side rails. The upper cornice, composed of a front and two sides, is nailed to the cornice frame. The corners of the cornice are part of the front section and have an additional laminated section added. The front corners are also screwed into a glue block. One strip of wood is nailed to either side of the cornice to help with alignment. The back is composed of two paneled sections tongue and grove joined. Each section has two rails mortised and tenoned into two stiles with an intermediate stile mortised and tenoned into the rails. The panels are dadoed into the stiles and rails. The sides are two rails mortised and tenoned into two stiles with a chamfered panel dadoed into the stiles and rails. The doors are composed of two rails mortised and tenoned into two stiles with a thick panel screwed into the back. The rails and stiles are both molded on the front with a slightly inset semicircle added to the top and curved corners. The doors are each attached with two original hinges. The armoire has a top shelf that runs the width of the piece and rests on two side rails which are nailed to the stiles. A central divider is mortised and tenoned into the top shelf. Both sides of the divider have three sets of shelf supports nailed in and correspond to the three shelf supports on the other side of the piece. The proper right door has its original wooden escutcheon and the original metal receiver. There is a section of wood running along the full length of the stile on the front stiles of the sides. There is a strip of wood along the front of the cornice to align the doors. The back and sides rest on pegs in the base. Strips of wood are attached to the back and front rails for alignment. The base is composed of four rails attached with the front two corners lapped over the side rails and glue blocked on the interior. Two sections are cut out of the front rail to accomodate two drawers. The drawers slide on a rabbet. The drawer supports rest on blocks that are secured to the case. The feet are formed with three pieces of wood cut with bracket feet. The bracket feet are integral to the skirt and are butt joined to the side boards. Square posts form the feet and are covered by the facing bracket and skirt. There is a triangular foot support on both back feet. The drawers are constructed with half blind dovetails in the front corners and dovetails in the back. The bottom is dadoed into the base and the bottom has circular saw marks visible. The bottom of the two drawers extends past the rest of the drawer for use as a drawer stop.