Henry Clifton
Dressing Table

Public Domain

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Images(5)

MakerAttributed to Henry Clifton (American, c. 1725–1771)American, c. 1725–1771

MakerAttributed to Thomas Carteret (American, active 1741–1771)American, active 1741–1771

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

On view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

FURNITURE

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.
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