Description:
Queen Anne dressing table found by the donor in Hazardville, Connecticut. The appearance and construction of the earliest furniture made by cabinetmakers in the Connecticut Valley was influenced by Boston craftsmen in the 1730s. Elite Connecticut River Valley families looked to Boston for high-style furniture, and local cabinetmakers were competing with transplanted urban-trained woodworkers such as William Manley (ca. 1703-1787) who moved from Charlestown, Massachusetts to Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1729, and Samuel Means (1700-1757), who moved from Boston to Springfield, Massachusetts, in the 1730s. The top, with its ogee-profile molding on all four edges, is pinned to the case sides and back, and is screwed to the front. The case has one long thumb-molded drawer over three short thumb-molded drawers, a standard arrangement on late Queen Anne and Chippendale tables; the brasses seem original. The drawer sides are dovetailed to the fronts and backs; and the drawer bottoms are inserted into grooves in the sides, and nailed into rabbets in the front and butted and nailed to the backs. The drawer sides and backs are composed of very thin stock. The drawer supports are let into mortises partially cut into the case front and back, and are glued to the sides. The caps on the scalloped skirt above the two drops, and the drops are replacements. The four cabriole legs terminate in pad feet; they are attached to the front with mortise and tenon joints, secured with a small single pin just above the knees, and are attached to the sides and back with mortise and tenon joints secured with two small pins (with the exception of the proper right back joint, which is secured with three pins). The knees of the rear legs are cut flush with the back. Traces of red paint are visible on the case. In its use of materials and leg and foot shape. This table resembles the dressing table owned by Persis Hoyt Sheldon, ex. collection Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little, sold at Sotheby's Jan. 29, 1994.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2003.46.1 |
