# Lowboy

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{{short description|Type of 18th-century American dressing table}}
{{for|the type of vehicle|Lowboy (trailer)}}
[[File:Henry Moore, Lowboy, c. 1936, NGA 17428.jpg|alt=A lowboy is a low chest or table with drawers and short legs. This watercolor of a lowboy has four drawers, metal handles and feet, and a shiny varnish.|thumb|Henry Moore, Lowboy, c. 1936. Image commissioned for the [Index of American Design](/source/Index_of_American_Design), the watercolor drawing is located within the [National Gallery of Art](/source/National_Gallery_of_Art)]]
A '''lowboy''' is an American collectors term for one type of [dressing table](/source/dressing_table).<ref>Lowboy is a "collectors term for a dressing table made in 18th century America often with a matching [highboy](/source/highboy) {{harv|Campbell|2006|pp=61, 479}}".</ref> It is a small [table](/source/Table_(furniture)) with one or two rows of [drawer](/source/Drawer_(furniture))s, so called in contradistinction to (and designed to match{{sfn|Gloag|1952|loc=Lowboy}}) the [tallboy](/source/tallboy_(furniture)) or highboy chest of drawers.{{sfn|Loomis IV|2011|p=59}}{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|page=17}}

==History and description==
Lowboys and tallboys were favorite pieces of the 18th century, both in [England](/source/England) and in the [United States](/source/United_States); the lowboy was most frequently used as a dressing-table, but sometimes as a [side-table](/source/End_table). It is usually made of [oak](/source/oak), [walnut](/source/walnut) or [mahogany](/source/mahogany), with the drawer-fronts mounted with brass pulls and [escutcheons](/source/Escutcheon_(furniture)). The more elegant examples in the [Queen Anne](/source/Queen_Anne_style_furniture), early [Georgian](/source/Georgian_period_in_British_history), and [Chippendale](/source/Thomas_Chippendale) styles often have [cabriole leg](/source/cabriole_leg)s, carved knees, and slipper or claw-and-ball feet. The fronts of some examples also are sculpted with the scallop-shell motif beneath the center drawer.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|page=17}}

Another term for a dressing table equipped with mirrors is ''vanity'' and is used to apply makeup and other fashion accessories.{{sfn|Campbell|2006|pp=331}}

== See also ==
* [Chest of drawers](/source/Chest_of_drawers)
* [Commode](/source/Commode)
* [List of desk forms and types](/source/List_of_desk_forms_and_types)
* [Sideboard](/source/Sideboard)

== Citations ==
{{reflist}}

== General and cited references ==
* {{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Gordon |year=2006 |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts: (Two-volume Set) |volume=1|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195189483 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=i3Od9bcGus0C&pg=PA61 61], [https://books.google.com/books?id=i3Od9bcGus0C&pg=PA331 331], [https://books.google.com/books?id=i3Od9bcGus0C&pg=PA479 479]}}
* {{cite book |last=Loomis IV  |first=Frank Farmer |edition=2 |title=Antiques 101: A Crash Course in Everything Antique |publisher=Krause Publications |year=2011 |isbn=9781440227387 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vb9zFFCFWtQC&pg=PA59 59]}}
* {{cite book | first1 = John | last1 = Gloag | date = 1952 | title = A Short Dictionary Of Furniture | publisher = Read Books Ltd | pages = | isbn = 978-1-4474-9772-1 | oclc = 1099027952 | url = }}
; Attribution
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Lowboy |volume=17 |page=72}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120820033846/http://dhub-bcn.cat/coleccions/tocadors/index.html Dressing Tables] collection at the [Disseny Hub Barcelona](/source/Disseny_Hub_Barcelona)

Category:Cabinets (furniture)
Category:Furniture

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lowboy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowboy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowboy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.