POSSIBLY WINCHESTER AREA, VIRGINIA, 1770-1800

This dressing table exhibits the influence of high-style Philadelphia and Baltimore Chippendale design, but its idiosyncratic applied and carved ornament, drawer configuration and interior construction suggest the work of a rural craftsman. The table's top, skirt and ball-and-claw feet are all features typical of late-eighteenth century furniture made in urban areas throughout the mid-Atlantic States. However, the appliqus in the center of the skirt and knees-carved shells with superimposed leaves and shaped pendants are related to ornament on furniture made in the Winchester, Virginia area during the late eighteenth-century. The reeded "hourglass" applique on the skirt is akin to pendant shells in the center of the tympani on two high chests-of-drawers attributed to the Frye-Martin shops and a tall-case clock with decoration attributed to Johannes Spitler (see Gusler, "The Furniture of Winchester, Virginia," American Furniture, Luke Beckerdite, ed., Hanover, 1997, figs. 9,14, pp.236,240; Walters, "Johannes Spitler, Shenandoah County, Virginia, furniture decorator," Antiques (October 1975), pl.III, p.733). Besides the unusual drawer configuration, the dressing table features a full dustboard comprising several panels set within grooved frames. Similar techniques are seen on a desk-and-bookcase from the Winchester area that may have been made by a cabinetmaker trained in the Frye-Martin shops (Gusler, fig. 33, p.250).