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Photo: Courtesy Sotheby's, New York
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Dressing table

Object number

RIF3099

Maker

Maker Unknown

Dimensions

Overall: 29 1/2 × 36 × 23 3/4 in. (74.93 × 91.44 × 60.33 cm)

Date

1750–70

Current location

Unknown

Geography

Possibly made in South Kingstown, Rhode Island
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Walnut (primary); pine, yellow poplar, chestnut (secondary)

Marks

None

Inscriptions

Illegible chalk writing on inside of interior back of each deep drawer (A?) and bottom of center drawer

Provenance

Israel Sack, Inc., New York, before 1987. Sotheby's, New York, January 28–29 and 31, 1987, lot 1280. Philip H. Bradley Co., Downingtown, Pennsylvania, 1987. Sotheby's, January 30–February 2, 1991, lot 1460. Sotheby's, New York, January 25, 1992, lot 1120. Vira Hladun-Goldmann (born 1935); consigned to Sotheby's, New York, January 22–23, 2010, lot 475, withdrawn. Northeast Auctions, Manchester, New Hampshire, August 6–8, 2010, lot 894. Northeast Auctions, Hampton and Portsmouth, New Hampshire (sale held Manchester, New Hampshire), August 5–7, 2011, lot 1263; Northeast Auctions, Hampton and Portsmouth, New Hampshire (sale held Manchester, New Hampshire), August 3–5, 2012, lot 757

Associated names

Sotheby's
Israel Sack, Inc.
Vira Hladun-Goldmann
Northeast Auctions

Construction

The rectangular single-board top has a molded edge and four incurvate corners, and is secured to its case by countersunk screws and nails in the upper front rail and by rosehead nails in rectangular glue blocks under the top. The single-board, straight-skirted back is attached to the flat-arch-skirted side boards by a dovetail joint, having thick-necked pins of varying configurations, with half-pins above and below. Within the case are full-depth upper drawer runners with chamfered ends set in grooves in the backboard, and similar supports for the three small drawers. Drawer guides for the small drawers are set in grooves in the backboard and half-lapped to the stiles between the drawers, which are reinforced with rectangular vertical glueblocks. The case contains one long over one shallow and two deep small drawers, lipped and thumb-molded. The drawer fronts are attached to and slightly proud of the chamfered-top sides with dovetail joints, which have large, thick-necked pins of varying configurations, with half-pins above and half-pins over grooves below. The tops of the drawer backs are flat. The single-board drawer bottoms, parallel to the drawer fronts, are nailed with brads to the drawer fronts, sides, and backs above. The elaborately scalloped front skirt centers a turned drop. The cabriole legs are of the "detachable" sort, held into the corners of the case with vertical glue blocks, having angular knees, knee brackets held on with glue and brads, and ending in slipper feet. Examined by P.E. Kane, July 25, 2012; notes compiled by T.B. Lloyd.

Bibliography

Sotheby's, New York, Important Americana, sale cat. (January 30 and February 2, 1991), lot 1460, ill.
Sotheby's, New York, Important Americana, sale cat. (January 28–29, 31, 1987), lot 1280, ill.
Sotheby's, New York, Fine Americana, sale cat. (January 23–25, 1992), lot 1120, ill.
"Philip H. Bradley Co. advertisement," Antiques 132, no. 1 (July 1987): 36, ill.
Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture: Early American (New York: Crown Publishers, 1993), 211, ill.
Sotheby's, New York, Important Americana, sale cat. (January 22–23, 2010), 86, lot 475, withdrawn.
Northeast Auctions, Hampton and Portsmouth, N.H., Annual Summer Americana Auction, sale cat. (August 6–8, 2010), 120, lot 894, ill.
Northeast Auctions, Portsmouth, N.H., Annual Summer Americana Auction, sale cat. (August 5–7, 2011), 111, lot 1263.
Northeast Auctions, Manchester, N.H., Annual Summer Auction, sale cat. (August 3?5, 2012), 46, lot 757, ill.
David Hewett, ""$2.975 Million Sale Opens"," Maine Antique Digest (October 2012): 32–B.
Patricia E. Kane et al., Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2016), 233n4.