by Derek Swarbrick
The original is currently at the Art Institute of Chicago and was made in mahogany whereas this reproduction is in walnut with poplar secondary woods. This example represented the most spectacular Chippendale Lowboy I have seen. Walnut was selected for its capability to hold fine detail of the carvings and to avoid some of the issues with currently available mahogany. Full scale draftings were created and used to produce the carving templates. No attempt was made to copy the mistakes in the original and all four legs were completely carved.