Overhangs & pendants

or jetties & drops

lower case, side frame and pillar

Try as I might, I can’t really write these things without a lot of photos. So be warned.

I’ve finished the first go-round with the text for a book about making the Essex County cupboard. One feature of the cupboards from that anonymous shop is the use of overhangs - sometimes called “jetties” in house construction of the period. In the cupboard I was copying the overhang is in the front - there are two recessed drawers between the top and bottom drawers. To create the front overhang, the framing is on the ends. The top and bottom rails extend forward, beyond a recessed front stile. In essence, there are three front stiles - the top block, the recessed flat stile and the bottom block. The upper and lower blocks/square stiles connect to each other by a large turned pillar.

Other examples from this shop have some overhangs/jetties that feature pendants, or “drops” like this cupboard at Winterthur. 

Winterthur Museum cupboard, 1680

And this chest of drawers disguised as a cupboard at Chipstone. 

Some have related decorative effects - like the brackets on this chest of drawers - 

Capen chest of drawers, 1685

Where do these ideas of overhangs, drops and brackets come from?