The 'Rudd Table' or 'Reflecting Dressing Table' of this pattern featured in Messrs Hepplewhite & Co's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1788, where it was described as 'the most complete Dressing Table made, possessing every convenience which can be wanted, or mechanism and ingenuity can supply'. It derives its name from a once popular character, for whom it is reported it was first invented. The latter is thought ot have been Margaret Caroline Rudd (d.1779), the notorious courtesan