Dressing Table
Original OwnerOriginally owned by
Lydia Belden
American, 1725 - 1805
Original OwnerOriginally owned by
Captain Charles Churchill
American, 1723 - 1802
Furniture MakerPossibly made by
Return Belden
American, 1721 - 1764
Date1740-1760
MediumSycamore and maple primary wood, eastern white pine and yellow pine secondary wood, brass hardware
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (overall height x width x depth): 27 3/8 x 33 1/2 x 23 1/2in. (69.5 x 85.1 x 59.7cm)
ClassificationsFurniture
Credit LineBequest of George Dudley Seymour
DescriptionSycamore and maple dressing table in the Queen Anne, or late baroque, style with local characteristics associated with the William Manley group of case furniture. The replaced top has ovolo, or thumbnail, molding on all four sides. The drawer arrangement consists of one shallow drawer flanked by two deep drawers. The front skirt has a high center arch flanked by deep cyma curves, or S-curves. Each side skirt has a cyma curve and reverse cyma curve. The maple cabriole legs each end in a pad foot supported by a truncated cone. Hardware includes a blind brass lock escutcheon on the center drawer. The two side drawers have a single brass escutcheon with a bail pull.
Condition: The top and the knee returns are replacements. The top is attached with screws to the front rail and to strips of wood glued to the sides and back. The finish on top is matte, with the exception of a glossy area in the center. The front left corner of the top is missing two small chips of wood. The two left leg posts have dormant insect holes; additional small insect holes are located throughout the lower case. The hardware is replaced.
Design and Construction Details: The case is made with mortise-and-tenon construction. The backboard is tenoned into the leg posts. There is a rail above the top drawer. The vertical partitions between the drawers are attached at each end with an exposed dovetail. Each knee return has a simple, rounded profile and is applied to the front of the apron. The drawers are supported by pairs of runners that are tenoned into the backboard. The drawer fronts are lip-molded; the drawer sides have double astragal molding on top. The drawer bottoms fit into grooves in the front and sides of each drawer; the underside of each drawer bottom shows frame-saw marks. Dovetail pins are an average size and angle.
Please see attached essay by Dr. Thomas P. Kugelman for more information about this piece.
Condition: The top and the knee returns are replacements. The top is attached with screws to the front rail and to strips of wood glued to the sides and back. The finish on top is matte, with the exception of a glossy area in the center. The front left corner of the top is missing two small chips of wood. The two left leg posts have dormant insect holes; additional small insect holes are located throughout the lower case. The hardware is replaced.
Design and Construction Details: The case is made with mortise-and-tenon construction. The backboard is tenoned into the leg posts. There is a rail above the top drawer. The vertical partitions between the drawers are attached at each end with an exposed dovetail. Each knee return has a simple, rounded profile and is applied to the front of the apron. The drawers are supported by pairs of runners that are tenoned into the backboard. The drawer fronts are lip-molded; the drawer sides have double astragal molding on top. The drawer bottoms fit into grooves in the front and sides of each drawer; the underside of each drawer bottom shows frame-saw marks. Dovetail pins are an average size and angle.
Please see attached essay by Dr. Thomas P. Kugelman for more information about this piece.
Object number1945.1.1127
InscribedThe right exterior side of both the left and center drawer has a small, purple stamp with a shield over the intertwined initials "GDS". The right drawer has a hand-written pencil inscription next to a paper bookplate that is adhered to the side. The inscription reads, "This lowboy came from the Captain Charles/ Churchill house at Newington, built about/ 1760 by Captain Charles Churchill./ Mr. Luke Vincent Lockwood placed the/ date of this lowboy to about 1720./ GDS/ May/ 1911". The engraved bookplate near the inscription has images of a small three-story house with a gambrel roof, a Connecticut River Valley-style door surround, and an oval cartouche containing the words, "CAPTAIN/ CHARLES CHURCHILL; HYS HOUSE AT WETHERSFIELD/ IN THE COLONY OF CONNEC-/ TICUT IN NEWE ENGLAND/ 1760-1885". Below the images are the words "EX-LIBRIS/ GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR" with "W.F.HOPSON" on the left and "N.H.1894" on the right. The underside of the bottom of this same drawer has a column-wide newspaper article adhered to the surface. The newspaper article begins "NEWINGTON/ Churchill Bronze Tablet Put in Con-gregational Church,/ A bronze tablet to the memory of/ Captain Charles Churchill, an early/ Newington worthy, has just been/ placed in the Congregational Church/ by George Dudley Seymour of New/ Haven, a descendant, ...". The article goes on to describe the images on the tablet and give a biographical sketch of Captain Charles Churchill. One of the images on the tablet is the door surround from Churchill's house, which may relate to the image found on the bookplate on the side of the drawer.NotesHistorical Note: Lydia Belden (1725-1805) was the younger sister of the maker, Return Belden (1721-1764).On View
Not on view
