Description:
Queen Anne rectangular dressing table in walnut, walnut veneer, and maple on white pine, which descended in the Osgood and Hoyt families of Beacon Street, Boston. The well-executed details such as the veneers and star inlay, gilded decoration, and carved feet illustrate the highly specialized nature of furniture making and advanced economy in early Boston. While the cabinetmaker was certainly expert and possibly made veneer and did carving, the primary role was to coordinate the assembly of products provided by other specialists, such as the sawyer, carver, gilder, founder, and engraver, some of whom were in England and had wares factored through colonial merchants. The single-arch molded flat top has quartered figured walnut veneer in the central area; the top and sides have points of compass inlay, made up of two contrasting fine-grained woods, and cross-banding and three line stringing used decoratively overall. There is a long molded top drawer over three short molded drawers, with a carved and gilded shell on the center short drawer. The top and side drawers are fitted with brass handles with engraved backplates; markings behind the drawer fronts indicate that the brasses are not original. The central drawer is fitted with a small ring and circular backplate fastened with a split pin, and a ferrous lock. The shaped skirt has flat headed arches and two carved and Herculean gilded drop pendants over four cabriole legs ending in brush feet. The "star inlay" style, popular with early eighteenth-century Boston cabinetmakers, is derived directly from London craftsmen, and used to embellish plain surfaces or conceal veneer joins. The style is sometimes associated with the work of Ebenezer Hartshern (1690-1781) of Charlestown, Boston and Concord, Massachusetts. Fales believed that the attribution is not valid because the legs are heavy at the knees and the ribbed feet resemble the Loring japanned high chest at Winterthur made by John Pimm. The brasses are replaced. Gilded areas covered by thick gold-color paint. Drawer sides and bottom are white pine.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+56.153 |
