Dressing table
Unknown Artist
1800–1810
Medium
Mahogany, birch veneer, basswood with white pine
Dimensions
34 1/4 x 35 x 19 1/2 in. (87 x 88.9 x 49.5 cm)
Classification
Dressing table
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1909
Accession Number
10.125.153
Art Historical Context
This elegant dressing table, crafted in America between 1800 and1810, exemplifies the Federal style popular in the young republic's affluent households. Made primarily of rich mahogany—a premium imported wood symbolizing luxury—with birch veneer for decorative contrast and lighter basswood paired with white pine for structural, it measures a compact 34¼ x 35 x 19½ inches. Such tables were essential bedroom furnishings, serving as personal vanities for grooming and storing toiletries, reflecting the era's emphasis on domestic comfort and neoclassical symmetry. The unknown artisan's skillful us...