This sophisticated dressing table masterfully integrates both Early and Late Baroque styles. Cabriole legs have superseded turned ones, yet instead of the corresponding pad feet, the earlier brush feet, still regarded sufficiently fashionable, were retained. The turned pendants are also vestiges of the previous style, their placement suggestive of the central front legs on an Early Baroque high chest. The subtle line inlay that defines the table’s surface frames both its shell drawer and its top with its compass-inspired detail.

Technical notes: Black walnut, unidentified inlay; eastern white pine. The brush feet are carved from a single piece of wood. The construction is more characteristic of Early Baroque case pieces, the drawer partitions tapering upward toward the back. The top drawer rests on side runners, the lower drawers on medial supports. The drawer bottoms axe nailed to the sides. The top is molded on all four sides. Inlay composed of a dark line flanked by light-colored lines defines the drawer fronts and top.

Related examples: Antiques and The Arts Weekly, December 22, 1989, p. 115; and a high chest in Antiques 131 (May 1987), p. 957

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff.  American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1988.