American Classical Carved and Figured Mahogany Dressing Table

Object Details

Object Essay

Though frequently described today as a server or sideboard, this handsome two-drawer table originally served as a dressing table. Price guides of the early 19th century refer to the form as a chamber table, but New England craftsmen apparently used both terms to identify tables of this type.^{1_{Montgomery 1966, 354. In 1810, Nehemiah Adams of Salem made two tables that were probably of this form; his bill identifies them as “2 Dressing tables [$]35.” See Swan 1934, 41. Acc. No. 63.81 is published in Fitzgerald 1982, 101.}}

Salem artisans offered two versions of the form. On the first, a single long drawer caps an arched front skirt flanked by small drawers.^{2_{For a turned-leg example with a Salem history, see Hipkiss, cat. no. 38. Tapered-leg versions were also made but are difficult to distinguish from similar tables produced in Portsmouth.}} On the second, depicted here, the frame contains two drawers of equal length. Often these tables have a serpentine front, reeded legs, carved leafage on the upper ends of the legs, and turned disks at the front corners of the top.^{3_{Ibid., no. 49; Fales 1965, 224, no. 65.}} In addition, on this example, the legs terminate in ring turnings and ball feet similar to those seen on other pieces of Salem furniture.^{4_{See, for example, the feet and ring turnings on four documented Salem tables in Fales 1965, nos. 4, 17, 19, 45.}}

In all likelihood, the maker employed a specialist to carve the legs. The boldness of the cornucopia and leafage as well as the star-punched background suggests the hand of Samuel Field McIntire (1780–1819). But other local artisans, including Daniel Clarke and Joseph True, could also have performed the task.^{5_{For information on Samuel Field McIntire, Daniel Clarke, and Joseph True, see Clunie 1977, 1006–13.}}

Two-drawer dressing tables remained popular in the Salem area throughout the first quarter of the 19th century. This example, with its original stamped rosette knobs and robust carvings, originated during the latter part of the era. Its presence documents the continued interest in Salem in decorative carving and exceptional cabinetwork.

Brock Jobe

Excerpted from Clement E. Conger, et al. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991.