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Dressing table

Carving attributed to: The "Garvan high chest carver" (active about 1750–1775)
1760–75
Object Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Medium/Technique Mahogany, poplar and fir
Dimensions 78.74 x 85.72 x 50.8 cm (31 x 33 3/4 x 20 in.)
Credit Line The M. and M. Karolik Collection of Eighteenth-Century American Arts
Accession Number39.162
CollectionsAmericas
This table features several methods of carving--three-dimensional shaping, appliqué, relief, and intaglio. The legs were sculpted in the round with shaving planes and rasps, before the claw-and-ball feet were formed with gouges and other tools. The knees of the legs, the skirt (bottom edge), and the central shell of the lower drawer were embellished with relief carving, in which wood was removed from the background to make the design protrude from the surface. The acanthus leaves surrounding the shell were applied to the surface, using small nails. At the center of the shell is intaglio carving, in which the design is cut into and removed from the wood.

Catalogue Raisonné Eighteenth-Century American Arts No. 54
ProvenancePurchased from Joe Kindig for the "The M. & M. Karolik Collection of 18th century American Arts."