Dressing Table

Date1820-1840

MediumMaple, curly maple, mahogany veneer, and white pine

DimensionsOH: 43 ¼"; OW: 36"; OD: 18"

Credit LineGift of Catherine Weekley

Object number2008-152

DescriptionAPPEARANCE: Neo-classical dressing table with serpentine front rail, half-serpentine side rails and canted ovolo corners. Attached accessory box. Table top, backboard and accessory box are maple. Front and side rails are veneered in mahogany. The symmetrical un-carved backboard features a pair of C-scrolls with large volutes flanking a center pediment with two small volutes. Turned striped maple legs are capped with half-round colonnettes on the front canted corners. Colonnettes are dominated by a barrel shaped "corncob" carving. Under the colonnettes are a group of molded turnings leading into a series of six groupings of small beads. Legs terminate in an elongated bulb foot. The serpentine front rail has a center drawer with bow front. Accessory box has bow front drawer and front corner ¾ colonnettes that echo the "corncob" carving in the leg colonnettes. Both drawer fronts are faced with birds-eye maple veneer and have cock-beading and two round brass knobs. Drawers are lined with first-half 19thc. wallpaper coated with varnish.
CONSTRUCTION: Screws secure top to front and side rails. Side rails are mortised into front rail. Back rail is mortised into side rails. Front legs and half-round colonnettes are integral and are half-lapped to bottom of the canted corner and glued to its face. Back legs are placed behind the back and side rails and are pegged to the back of the side rails. Glue blocks further secure the back legs in the corner formed by the legs and the back rail. The accessory box top and bottom are half-lapped, glued and face-nailed to the box sides and the box abuts the case backboard which acts as a back for the box. Front corner ¾ colonnettes are glued in place. Screws secure the bottom of the box to the case top and sides of the box to the case back panel. Drawers are of dovetail constriction with cock-beaded edges hiding most of the dovetails. Cock-beading is glued in place; there is evidence of pin-clamping with the pins having been removed. Drawer bottoms are slid into dados in the front and sides and nailed to the bottom edge of the back. Drawer supports for the front rail drawer are dovetailed into the front and back rails and serve as drawer runners. Guides are nailed to the supports and a drawer stop block is glued to the back rail. The bottom and sides of the accessory box function as drawer runners and guides for the accessory box drawer. Drawer stops are glued to sides at the back corners of the box.
InscribedChalk inscriptions:
"2" on bottom and "back" on back of lower drawer; "2" and "V" on back of top drawer; "2" on inside bottom of box for top drawer; "No. 2" with large flourish on underside of top; "No. 2" on inside of proper left and proper right side rails; "V" on inside of proper right side rail; "2" on inside of rear rail.
ProvenanceAccording to donor's daughter the table was owned by Charles Navis of Richmond at one point early in the 20th century; then purchase by a Richmond collector whose last name was Abby (the mother of Champ Abby who was a Richmond friend of the donor). She sold it to Swan Antiques in Yorktown (pre David Peebles) and the donor's mother acquired it there about 1979.

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