Images(2)

Dressing table

Date1750-1760

OriginAmerica, South Carolina, Charleston

MediumMahogany, bald cypress, and tulip poplar.

DimensionsOH: 27 1/2"; OW: 33"; OD: 19 1/2".

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1992-165

DescriptionAppearance: Rectangular table with single scratch-beaded drawer; top edges molded at front and sides; straight rails; four legs with square upper sections, turned shanks, and pad feet raised on straight-sided disks.

Construction: The two-board top was originally held in place with screws driven through the rails into the underside of the top and a series of cypress glue blocks, three in the front and two in the rear. Traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery is used on the frame, and the joints are secured with wooden pins. The original drawer bottom was nailed into rabbets on the sides and front and flush-nailed at the rear. A pair of square stop blocks is glued along their narrow side to the drawer back. The rabbeted drawer supports are sprig-nailed to the rails.

Materials: Mahogany top, front rails, side rails, rear rail, drawer front, and legs; bald cypress drawer sides, drawer back, and top glue blocks; tulip poplar drawer runners and stop blocks on back of drawer.
Label TextDirectly derived from British models, this Charleston table is one of many similar examples produced there during the third quarter of the eighteenth century. Most related tables feature all of the structural and decorative details seen here including bald cypress secondary wood; ovolo-beaded square stiles; tops molded on three sides; drawers with scratch-beaded edges; pinned mortise-and-tenon joints; turned legs; and pad feet that rest on wide, flat, straight-sided disks. These tables exhibit a high degree of decorative restraint that clearly suited the tastes of many wealthy South Carolinians. Peter Manigault, an affluent and socially prominent Charleston lawyer, planter, and politician, summed up the trend when he ordered a great quantity of furniture and silver from England in 1771. At the conclusion of his list, Manigault reiterated his desire that the goods be "the plainer the better so that they are fashionable."

Although the term "dressing table" appears in some South Carolina records, Charlestonians more often referred to the form as a "chamber table," an expression that was not widely used in other parts of the South. The meaning of the term is confirmed by Charleston estate inventories like that of Cato Ash. At his death in 1757, one of the bedchambers in the Ash residence contained a "Mahogany Dressing Chamber table." Additional confirmation is found in other local probate records wherein chamber tables were outfitted with "toilets" (floor-length table covers), dressing glasses, candlesticks, and assorted toiletries.

While single-drawer tables like this one were generally used for personal grooming, British print sources show that they also provided surfaces for reading, writing, and sewing. Many "writing tables" featured fitted drawers designed to store paper and writing utensils, but the name may have been applied to simpler tables like the present example.
InscribedNone.
MarkingsNone.
ProvenanceThe table was acquired from antiques dealers Jim and Harriet Pratt of Charleston, S. C., in 1992. No previous history is known.

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