Dressing Table
1755–90
Medium
Mahogany, yellow pine, yellow poplar, and Atlantic white cedar
Dimensions
74.3 × 89.2 × 57.3 cm (29 1/4 × 35 1/8 × 22 1/2 in.)
Classification
table
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
55123
Art Historical Context
This elegant dressing table, crafted between 1755 and 1790, exemplifies the refined woodworking traditions of colonial America. Made from a harmonious blend of mahogany, yellow pine, yellow poplar, and Atlantic white cedar, it measures 74.3 × 89.2 × 57.3 cm, perfectly scaled for intimate personal use in a bedchamber. The choice of mahogany—an imported tropical hardwood—highlights the era's growing transatlantic trade networks, while the secondary woods sourced locally underscore resourceful American craftsmanship by an unknown maker. As a functional yet decorative piece in the Arts of the Ame...