{{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, the watercolor drawing is located within the National Gallery of Art]] A '''lowboy''' is an American collectors term for one type of dressing table.<ref>Lowboy is a "collectors term for a dressing table made in 18th century America often with a matching highboy {{harv|Campbell|2006|pp=61, 479}}".</ref> It is a small table with one or two rows of drawers, so called in contradistinction to (and designed to match{{sfn|Gloag|1952|loc=Lowboy}}) the tallboy 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 and in the United States; the lowboy was most frequently used as a dressing-table, but sometimes as a side-table. It is usually made of oak, walnut or mahogany, with the drawer-fronts mounted with brass pulls and escutcheons. The more elegant examples in the Queen Anne, early Georgian, and Chippendale styles often have cabriole legs, 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 * Commode * List of desk forms and types * 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
Category:Cabinets (furniture) Category:Furniture