American, collected in Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky
Miniature Chest of Drawers, 1805 – 1825
Cherry, poplar
16 × 14 1/2 × 7 3/4 in. (40.6 × 36.8 × 19.7 cm.)
From the Noe Collection, Gift of Bob and Norma Noe, Lancaster, Kentucky 2011.9.28

Miniature Furniture
Cabinetmaker’s samples? Toy furniture? Both labels get applied to small pieces of furniture like these chests of drawers, which are about one-third the size of full scale examples. Pieces of furniture of this scale, however, were not made as cabinetmaker’s samples. Rather they were most commonly made for the storage of small, sometimes valuable items. Some pieces may have been associated with children, but they were just as likely to have been made for adults.