Dressing Table

Details

Descriptive Terms

dressing tables
black walnut (wood)
eastern white pine (wood)
Table, Dressing

Label

Dressing tables like this one were placed in bedchambers and because they typically did not have lockable drawers they were used to house small non-valuable objects. They provided a place to apply cosmetics or jewelry. A looking glass, hung on the wall over the table, or a dressing glass-a small mirror attached to a small dressing box-that sat atop the table would have facilitated the owner's toilette ritual. This dressing table was created about 1720-1735 in the Boston area. It was made in the William and Mary style that prevailed in the early eighteenth century, characterized by the deeply curved skirt, the two drop finials, and the delicate turned legs. The stretchers that form a Baroque X near the base of the legs provide stability as well as decoration. The legs are connected in a fragile manner, typical of much William and Mary furniture, to blocks glued into the case. Stretchers appear on many pieces of furniture of this period as a strengthening element.

Maker

Unknown

Dimensions

33 1/8 x 33 3/4 x 21 1/2 (HxWxD) (inches)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Charles F. Batchelder, Jr.

Accession Number

1980.379

Reference Notes

Section 392, 393

Places

Probably Massachusetts (United States)
Probably Boston (Suffolk county, Massachusetts)

Related Items

Title High Chest Accession Number 1984.20