On View
Not on viewDressing Tables
Date1755-1780
Terms
- Dressing Tables
- Black Walnut
- Eastern White Pine
- Southern Yellow Pine
- Middlesex County (Massachusetts)
Dimensions76.14 × 88.83 × 50.76 cm (30 × 35 × 20 in.)
Credit LineGift of Cummings E. Davis (1886)
Object numberF611
DescriptionBlack walnut, southern yellow pine, eastern white pine. Queen Anne style. Five drawers, three below and two above. A single narrow beading is run on the case about the drawers. The lower drawer is carved with a sun-burst. Brasses (reprod.) in the Willow pattern, having bail handles of 3" span. Cabriole legs; Dutch feet. Drops are replacements. For note on the use of term "Low-boy" see F509.
Mortise-and-tenon joints fasten the frame, but pins never reinforced the joints. The top was originally mounted to the frame in two ways: screws were driven through an upper front rail into the underside of the top, and blocks along the case sides and back were glued to the top. Modern slats glued to the sides and screwed to the top now replace the blocks; pins and screws have also been inserted in the top during previous restorations. The drawer divider, a 1-3/4 inch strip of black walnut, is tenoned into the front legs. Shallow partitions are toenailed into notches in the upper rail, drawer divider, and skirt. Drawer supports slip into notches in the divider or skirt and are tenoned into the case back. Drawer guides are glued to the supports. Small pine blocks glued to the case back serve as stops for the drawers. Each drawer is joined with precise, well-crafted dovetails. The drawer bottom is nailed to the rabbeted edges of the front and sides and flush edge of the back. Runners are set along the lower inside edge of the sides and glued to the bottom. The back corner of each runner is cut at a 45-degree angle. The drawers are lined with old cartridge paper. "Black" in old chalk script and "B. Grant / 1680" in modern pencil are written on the case back.
The table has had many repairs. In addition to refastening the top, someone apparently reduced the top's depth by about 3/4 inch. In April 1930, a Mr. Hennessey applied a shellac finish and removed a set of early eighteenth-century brasses with drop pulls probably installed by Cummings Davis. Within a few weeks Morris Schwartz decided to remove the shellac, wash the piece with oakum to restore the color of the walnut, and finish the table with a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine. At the time, Schwartz discovered that the tips of the left feet and all of the knee brackets except that for the right rear leg were mahogany restorations. He replaced these with "proper ones of old walnut"; at the same time, he removed the drops and added "new turnings of the correct size and design."
see comparison between F1006 and F611 in the 1996 catalog.
Mortise-and-tenon joints fasten the frame, but pins never reinforced the joints. The top was originally mounted to the frame in two ways: screws were driven through an upper front rail into the underside of the top, and blocks along the case sides and back were glued to the top. Modern slats glued to the sides and screwed to the top now replace the blocks; pins and screws have also been inserted in the top during previous restorations. The drawer divider, a 1-3/4 inch strip of black walnut, is tenoned into the front legs. Shallow partitions are toenailed into notches in the upper rail, drawer divider, and skirt. Drawer supports slip into notches in the divider or skirt and are tenoned into the case back. Drawer guides are glued to the supports. Small pine blocks glued to the case back serve as stops for the drawers. Each drawer is joined with precise, well-crafted dovetails. The drawer bottom is nailed to the rabbeted edges of the front and sides and flush edge of the back. Runners are set along the lower inside edge of the sides and glued to the bottom. The back corner of each runner is cut at a 45-degree angle. The drawers are lined with old cartridge paper. "Black" in old chalk script and "B. Grant / 1680" in modern pencil are written on the case back.
The table has had many repairs. In addition to refastening the top, someone apparently reduced the top's depth by about 3/4 inch. In April 1930, a Mr. Hennessey applied a shellac finish and removed a set of early eighteenth-century brasses with drop pulls probably installed by Cummings Davis. Within a few weeks Morris Schwartz decided to remove the shellac, wash the piece with oakum to restore the color of the walnut, and finish the table with a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine. At the time, Schwartz discovered that the tips of the left feet and all of the knee brackets except that for the right rear leg were mahogany restorations. He replaced these with "proper ones of old walnut"; at the same time, he removed the drops and added "new turnings of the correct size and design."
see comparison between F1006 and F611 in the 1996 catalog.
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- Furniture
