Bureau dressing table

Dressing table
Peter Scott, c. 1754
Mahogany, yellow pine, white oak

Status

On view

Label Text

A June 12, 1754 invoice from Williamsburg cabinetmaker Peter Scott to Daniel Parke Custis (1711-1757), Martha Washington's first husband, records Scott's manufacture of "2 Mahogany Dressing tables…£10." Martha brought both tables to Mount Vernon after marrying George Washington in January 1759. This one, which stands in the couple's bedchamber today, is the only known documented piece of furniture by Scott. Bureau dressing tables originated in England in the early 18th century, and were used for dressing, writing and storage. Fashionable and functional, they remained quite popular there and throughout the American colonies for decades.

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Datec. 1754

Maker Peter Scott (American, 1694 - 1775)

Geography Made - United States

Medium/TechniqueMahogany (primary), yellow pine (case back, dustboards, drawerbacks), white oak (most drawer sides and bottoms)

DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 32 1/4 in. x 35 3/4 in. x 19 3/4 in. (81.92 cm x 90.81 cm x 50.17 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, 1939

Object numberW-372

DescriptionBureau dressing table with overhanging, single-board, ogee-molded top above one long, thumbmolded drawer over a recessed cabinet with solid door flanked by three, graduated, thumbmolded drawers on each side. Quarter-round base molding. Four, straight-bracket feet with ogee returns. Brass, scrolled-end H hinges and oval escutcheon on cabinet door (original). Shaped escutcheons and backplates with bail handles (replacements). Full dustboards are the same thickness as the drawer blades. Three horizontal backboards, nailed into rabbets at the top and sides and flushnailed at bottom.

Top slides onto a half-dovetail cut into the top edge of the sides. The legs are reinforced with three-part glue blocks on the front and a single vertical block and a horizontal block on the sides; the back legs are glued to the base of the molding.

Published ReferencesRonald L. Hurst, "Peter Scott, Cabinetmaker of Williamsburg: A Reappraisal," in Luke Beckedite, ed., American Furniture 2006 (Milwaukee: Chipstone Foundation, 2006), 28-53; see esp. pp. 31-37, figs. 6, 10-14.

Christine Meadows, "The Furniture," Antiques 135, no. 2 (February 1989): 482-83.

Helen Maggs Fede, Washington Furniture at Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, VA; MVLA, 1966), 24-25.

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