Dressing Table
Period1740 - 1760
MediumCherry, walnut, and hard pine
Dimensions28.13 × 31.5 × 19.38 in. (71.4 × 80 × 49.2 cm)
ClassificationsTables and Stands
Credit LineMarshall P. Blankarn Purchasing Fund, 1979
Object number1979.7.2
DescriptionThe one drawer dressing table has a rectangular top with rounded edges. A single shallow drawer below the top includes thumbnail molded edges and a pair of original brass bails with solid backplates. The brasses are held in place with iron cotter pins. The plain front and side skirt panels feature shallow molded bottom edges, and corner leg blocks extend to rounded and tapered turned legs that end in pointed pad feet. The table retains an early if not original finish. The right rear foot has been repaired. Pit saw marks appear on the backboard, which is of walnut.Curatorial RemarksThe details of this small table related to other furniture made in the Middletown area of Monmouth County. Of special note are the pointed pad feet. Also, the drawer construction is similar to other local examples in the rounded profile of the upper edge of the drawer sides. The rear dovetails, however, are at variance with more common Middletown practice in that the drawer back extends to the outer edge of the drawer sides, and the drawer sides crudely extend beyond the drawer back. For a related one drawer dressing table, see accession number 1991.536.NotesWhen first examined before its acquisition, this one drawer dressing table bore a chalk inscription on the underside of the drawer that read "Lamarche." The name was erased by the time the Association purchased it. At the time it was believed that the table had been owned by Virginia Allen LaMarche (b. 1926). Virginia was a native of Monmouth County, and a descendant of the Allen family of Red Bank. Her Greek Revival family residence once stood on Broad Street, but was subsequently moved back to a lot facing Monmouth Street. It is now a restaurant and pub called the Dublin House.
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