Thomas Spencer
Bureau Table

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Bureau Table
Datec. 1780–1785
Possible placeProvidence, Rhode Island, United States
MediumMahogany; mahogany, eastern white pine, chestnut, soft maple, and yellow poplar
Dimensions31 1/2 × 36 3/4 × 20 3/4 in. (80 × 93.3 × 52.7 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. James L. Britton, Jr.
Object numberB.92.6
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Newport Room
On view

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Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The bureau table was intended for the bedchamber, which in the eighteenth century functioned as both a public and private space. An eighteenth-century English architect commented on this duality: “A dressing-room in the house of a person of fashion is a room of consequence, not only for its natural use in being the place of dressing, but for the several persons who are seen there. The morning is a time many choose for dispatching business; and as persons of this rank are not to be supposed to wait for people of that kind, they naturally give themselves orders to come about a certain hour, and admit them while they are dressing.”

Bureau tables functioned in a variety of ways. Some had a hinged top drawer that dropped down to reveal a desk interior. Such tables likely had a dressing glass set on top. Others, like the Bayou Bend table, were intended for personal grooming, with an adjustable mirror and fitted compartments for cosmetics, combs, brushes, scissors, razors, and other personal accouterments. 

In Rhode Island the bureau table was a popular form, as attested by the survival of more than fifty examples. The typical case is blocked, culminating in a series of convex and concave shells, the overall effect reminiscent of an architectural arcade. Traditionally these tables are assigned to Newport; however, it is plausible that Providence craftsmen also supplied their prominent locals. 

Technical notes: Mahogany; mahogany (interior sliding panel, secret drawer front), eastern white pine (foot blocks, drawer runners), chestnut (drawer sides and bottoms), soft maple (prospect cabinet partitions, panel beneath top drawer, rear rail support for the top drawer), yellow-poplar (writing board), cedrela (writing board frame). The foot blocks are triangular. A filler was let in between the side bracket feet. The bottom is recessed and runners were introduced for the two bottom drawers. The drawer bottoms are chamfered and slid into a rabbet but not nailed. The prospect door is framed with a thin, beaded strip. Inside, it reveals two shelves. The top drawer when closed rests on a bracket attached to the back. The top drawer retains its original fittings, but the hinged writing board seems to be an addition. The brasses are probably original. Inside the back of the large drawer is what appears to be the letter A. The bank of small drawers are numbered for orientation. The bottom drawer is inscribed: “a.w. mende 1943.”

Related examples: This is the only Rhode Island bureau table outfitted as a dressing table. Its configuration, most notably the prospect door with its rectangular panel, relates most closely to Moses 1984, pp. 34, 332.

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.


ProvenanceBy tradition, John Brown (1736–1803), Providence, Rhode Island; by descent to his daughter, Mrs. John Francis (née Abigail Brown, born 1766); by descent to her son, John Brown Francis (1791–1864); by descent to his daughter, Mrs. Marshall Woods (née Ann Francis, 1828–1896); by descent to her daughter, Mrs. Samuel Abbot (née Abby Woods, 1849–1895); by descent to her daughter, Mrs. John O. Ames (née Madeleine Abbot,1876–1963); by descent to her sister, Mrs. Charles Kilvert, Sr. (née Anne Abbot, 1878–1954); by descent to her son, Charles A. Kilvert, Jr. (1918–2000); consigned to [Christie's, New York, June 12, 1982, lot 198]; purchased by Marian M. Britton (1910–1998) and James L. Britton, Jr. (1908–1988), Houston; given to MFAH, 1992.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
“A,” in graphite, on interior back of top drawer; "Tos. Spencer 1764 / Reichhold & Knoblock 1876 Repaired," in graphite, on exterior back of top drawer; letter [probably “A”], in graphite, on top of divider under top drawer; “1,” in graphite, on front interior sides of small proper-right drawers; “B 1,” in graphite, on interior back of proper-right middle drawer; “C 1,” in graphite, on interior back of proper-right bottom drawer; “2,” in graphite, on front interior sides of small proper-left drawers; “B 2,” in graphite, on interior back of proper-left middle drawer; “C 2,” in graphite, on interior back of proper-left lower drawer; “C” or “C 2,” in graphite, on front rail under proper-left lower drawer; later numbers [probably 19th century], in graphite, on small drawers and on drawer dividers; "A. W. Mende 1943," inscribed, on a bottom drawer

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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