Lot Essay
With its cusped corners, chamfered fluted corners, shell carved knees and trifid feet, this dressing table represents the transition from the restrained Queen Anne style to the highly embellished Rococo style. The overall case design with shaped apron and fluted chamfered corners of this dressing table is similar to a high chest-of-drawers signed by Henry Clifton now in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg and illustrated in Heckscher, American Rococo, 1750-1775: Elegance in Ornament (New York, 1992) p. 199, and a dressing table sold in These Rooms, June 23, 1993, lot 218. The elegant shell-carved knees and trifid feet are similar to the carving on a slab-table sold in These Rooms, October 24, 1992, lot 138, and a high chest-of-drawers in the Winterthur collection and illustrated in Joseph Down's American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (New York, 1952) fig. 192, suggesting the work of the same carver.