Henry Clifton
Dressing Table

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Dressing Table
Datec. 1750
Made inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
MediumWalnut; tulip poplar and yellow pine
Dimensions30 1/2 × 34 × 21 in. (77.5 × 86.4 × 53.3 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Vincent D. and Caroline S. Andrus
Object numberB.2023.11
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Queen Anne Sitting Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
DescriptionThis dressing table, dating to about 1750, features elements of both the late baroque, or Queen Anne, style and the rococo, or Chippendale, style. Most notable of the former are the trifid feet; of the latter, the central shell drawer surrounded by swirling foliate scrolls is most prominent. Philadelphia Quaker cabinetmaker Henry Clifton partnered with or employed Thomas Carteret for an unknown period. Their association is documented by a high chest of drawers in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg inscribed “Henry Clifton / Thomas Carteret / November 15, 1753.”  This object and its ensuite dressing table constitute the touchstone for attributions to the pair. The original owner of this dressing table, Richard Wistar (1727–1781), was the son of Caspar Wistar, who in 1739 established one of colonial America’s early glass manufactories in New Jersey.  It later entered the collection of Vincent Dyckman Andrus, a curator of the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who acted as a consultant to Miss Hogg while she was building her collection in the 1950s.
ProvenanceMade for Richard Wistar (1727–1781), Philadelphia; inherited by his daughter Elizabeth Wyatt Wistar Miller (1766–1844), Mannington Township, New Jersey; inherited by her daughter Sarah Wyatt Miller Acton (1791–1870), Salem, New Jersey; inherited by her daughter Charlotte Wistar Acton (1821–1898), Salem; inherited by her son Cleayton Wistar (1845–1935), Salem; purchased by Edwin Slough Youse, Reading, Pennsylvania (1875–1944), January 3, 1929; Vincent Dyckman Andrus (1915–1962), Greenwich, Connecticut; Vincent Dyckman Andrus, Jr. and Caroline Parker Andrus; facilitated through [Frank Levy, Levy Galleries, New York]; given to MFAH, 2023.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no signature]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

scan from file photograph
c. 1760–1800
Black walnut; red gum, Atlantic white cedar, yellow-poplar, southern yellow pine, and eastern white pine
B.69.527
c. 1740–1800
Black walnut; southern yellow pine, Atlantic white cedar, yellow-poplar, and spruce
B.66.15
Étagère
John Henry Belter
1855
Rosewood and rosewood veneer; black walnut, mahogany, eastern white pine, yellow-poplar, undetermined exotic wood (possibly eucalyptus), marble, and mirrored glass
B.81.9.10
Dressing Table
c. 1760–1800
Black walnut; black walnut, yellow-poplar and Atlantic white cedar
B.69.78
scan from file photograph
c. 1760–1780
Mahogany; tulip, yellow pine, oak
B.69.20
Patent Model for an Extension Dining Table
Lewis Thorn
c. 1851
Walnut; eastern white pine, yellow-poplar, cucumber tree, and white oak
B.93.10
Desk
c. 1700–1730
Black walnut, undetermined burl veneer, and eastern white pine; eastern white pine, black walnut, yellow-poplar, cherry, Cuban oyster wood (Gymnanthes lucida), and chestnut
B.69.42
Chest of Drawers
Joseph Barry
c. 1815
Mahogany, tulip poplar, and white pine
B.2020.2
Dressing Table
c. 1760–1800
Mahogany; southern yellow pine, yellow-poplar, and Atlantic white cedar
B.58.147
scan from file photograph
c. 1730–1800
Black walnut; yellow-poplar, red oak, Atlantic white cedar, chestnut, eastern white pine, and black walnut
B.61.82
Dressing Table
Christopher Townsend
c. 1750–1755
Mahogany; yellow-poplar, eastern white pine, and chestnut
B.59.96
Pier Table
c. 1825–1830
Mahogany; cherry, tulip poplar, marble, and mirror glass
B.98.13