Bureau Table

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Bureau Table
Datec. 1750–1800
Possible placeBoston area, Massachusetts, United States
Possible placeMassachusetts, United States
MediumMahogany; eastern white pine
Dimensions29 3/4 × 36 × 20 5/8 in. (75.6 × 91.4 × 52.4 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.358
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Massachusetts Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

In Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the bureau table was often produced with a blocked front; however, each region’s interpretation was entirely different. Massachusetts craftsmen adeptly integrated into the facade either a rounded or flattened contour, fitting it with a tablet-shaped prospect door or, on rare occasions, one with carving. The Bayou Bend table, with its carved and gilded shell, represents the fully developed form. This bureau table and a matching chest-on-chest (B.69.357) are the only extant American examples remaining en suite.

Technical notes: Mahogany; eastern white pine. The foot blocks are quarter round. The side braces pass through the rear feet. The bottom drawers rest on the case bottom. Inside the prospect door is a shelf with a cyma-shaped scalloped front repeating the base profile of the drawer immediately above it. The tops of the drawer sides are double-beaded. Below the top drawer are full dustboards. The hardware appears to be original. The drawers and dividers are consecutively numbered.

Related examples: Most closely related is a bureau table in the collection of the Honolulu Academy of Arts, which retains a fragment of what may be a cabinetmaker’s label (Sotheby’s, New York, sale 4268, June 20–23, 1979, lot 1249A). Similar tables include Antiques 99 (January 1971), p. 7; Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, sale 3923, November 18–20, 1976, lot 1008. Bureau tables with carved prospect doors include Antiques 75 (May 1959), inside front cover; Antiques 101 (May 1972), p. 744; Christie’s, New York, sale 7526, October 24, 1992, lot 205.

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, 1998.


ProvenanceAlice and Luke Vincent Lockwood (1872–1951), Greenwich, Connecticut; [Parke-Bernet, New York]; [John S. Walton (1907–1985), New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1954; given to MFAH, 1969.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
Drawers and dividers are consecutively numbered

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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

Bureau Table
Thomas Spencer
c. 1780–1785
Mahogany; mahogany, eastern white pine, chestnut, soft maple, and yellow poplar
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Card Table
c. 1820–1830
Grained, painted, and gilded mahogany, and birch; mahogany veneer on eastern white pine with black walnut banding, ash, eastern white pine, cherry, and original brass casters
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Bureau
c. 1805–1820
Mahogany and birch; eastern white pine
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c. 1815–1825
Mahogany, mahogany veneer; eastern white pine, yellow poplar, cherry, and mahogany
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c. 1815–1825
Mahogany and mahogany veneer; eastern white pine, mahogany, yellow-popolar, marble, mirror glass, brass, and gilt
B.67.29
scan from file photograph
c. 1750–1800
Mahogany; southern yellow pine, eastern white pine, and yellow-poplar; marble
B.69.67
scan from file photograph
c. 1750–1800
Mahogany; eastern white pine, birch, southern yellow pine, and hickory
B.76.163
Writing Table and Bookcase
c. 1825–1835
Mahogany and mahogany veneer; eastern white pine, yellow-poplar, gilding, glass, and gilt-bronze mounts
B.82.4
Card Table
c. 1820–1825
Mahogany, mahogany veneer, rosewood, and ebony; yellow-poplar, cherry, eastern white pine, and brass
B.68.32
Card Table
c. 1785–1815
Mahogany and unidentied inlay; mahogany, eastern white pine, and birch
B.57.61
Card Table (one of a pair)
c. 1805–1810
Mahogany and mahogany veneer; eastern white pine and brass
B.69.385.2
Card Table (one of a pair)
c. 1805–1810
Mahogany and mahogany veneer; eastern white pine and brass
B.69.385.1