- Sewing Table
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William Otto Glosnop was a cabinetmaker, carpenter, and architect who settled in Clarksville in Red River County in far northeast Texas. He entered this table in a Texas state fair in Austin in 1877, where it won a prize for being the best center table made in Texas of Texas wood. One look shows that he spared no effort to make his entry a show-stopper. Glosnop included a dazzling marquetry top, a laminated and turned central column, and whimsical spiny dolphin figures on the legs to display his impressive range of woodworking techniques.
Adapted from Lonn Taylor and David B. Warren. Texas Furniture: The Cabinetmakers and Their Work, 1840–1880. Vol. 1, rev. ed. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 2012.
ProvenanceBy descent within the Glosnop family, 1983; [John R. Sauls, Tyler, Texas]; purchased by William J. Hill (1934–2018), Houston, c. 1986; given to MFAH, 2017.
Exhibition History"Made in Texas: Art, Life and Culture: 1845–1900," Beeville Art Museum, Texas, September 20, 2014–January 10, 2015.
"A Texas Legacy: Selections from the William J. Hill Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 2, 2016–January 2, 2017.
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