| Chest of Drawers
Petersburg, Virginia, 1780-1795 Mahogany with yellow pine Long-term loan from Mr. and Mrs. Donald Irvine
Chest of Drawers
Boston, Massachusetts, 1760-1795 Mahogany with white pine
Following British prototypes, the drawers in urban Chesapeake case furniture are usually supported on solid planks, called dustboards. This Petersburg, Virginia, chest of drawers shows that the dustboards were dovetailed into the case sides. By contrast, the drawers in most New England furniture are supported on three narrow strips of wood--a drawer blade at the front of the case, and two runners at the sides--as in this fine Boston chest. Drawer runners usually were attached with nails that restrict the seasonal movement of the case and often cause the sides to split as the wood shrinks.
The dustboards commonly found on southern furniture slide into grooves in the case sides instead of being fixed with nails or screws. This system provides better support for the drawer and prevents the case sides from splitting. Dustboard construction, which used more labor and materials and was more expensive, represented a level of sophistication expected by patrons in Chesapeake towns. | 
