A Fine Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Dressing Table, Salem Area, Massachusetts, circa 1770

Israel Sack, Inc., New York

Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from the Israel Sack Collection, 10 vols., (Alexandria, Va.: Highland House, 1981), vol.3, p.824, P389.

secondary wood is white pine; hardware replaced; refinished
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Made of richly figured mahogany, the present dressing table's self-contained design and handsome proportions combine to make it a fine statement of early American craftsmanship in the North Shore aesthetic. The distinctively shaped front skirt with its diamond cut-out flanked by scrolls and the sharply projecting knees with scrolled knee brackets are features associated with furniture made in Salem. A related high chest at the New England Historic Genealogical Society with a similar apron, carved shell, and knee returns is attributed to Elijah Sanderson (1752-1825) of Salem on the basis of a history of descent in his family.¹

Comparable Salem dressing tables include a mahogany example with a history in the Hancock family of Massachusetts that sold at Christie's, January 15, 2004, lot 454, and one currently in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.² Several high chests are known with a very closely related design to the Sanderson chest. One of walnut was exhibited in the 1929 Girl Scout Loan Exhibition as the property of Mr. Charles Hallam Keep.³  Another with a history at the Essex House in Salem has been illustrated as the property of Jacob Margolis.⁴  One of maple with its original finials and brasses has been published in a private Southern collection.⁵ Two additional examples display acanthus-carved knees.⁶ Flat-top high chests with similar features include one at Yale University, another illustrated in an Antiques Magazine advertisement for Sanford & Patricia Smith, and a third example with three shell-carved drawers in an Antiques Magazine advertisement for Florence Maine.⁷

¹ James Bell and Cynthia Dunn Fleming, "Furniture from the Atkinson-Lancaster Collection at the New England Historic Genealogical Society," The Magazine Antiques (May 1978): 1079.
² Wendy Cooper, In Praise of America, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980, fig. 229, p. 199.
³  Israel Sack Inc., American Antiques from the Israel Sack Collection, Vol. III, p. 631 and American Art Galleries, Loan Exhibition of Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Furniture & Glass, 1929, no. 561.
⁴ Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury, Vol. III, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1928, no. 377.
⁵  Arden Root, "Living with Antiques in the South," The Magazine Antiques (May 1975): 963.
⁶  Sack I, no. 321, p. 111 and Sack II, no. 1301, p. 557.
⁷  Gerald Ward, American Case Furniture, New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1988, no. 134, pp. 257-9; Sanford & Patricia Smith advertisement, The Magazine Antiques (May 1977): 898; and Florence Maine advertisement, The Magazine Antiques (November 1962): 461.