The design of this chest and dressing glass was inspired by plate LXII and plate CI in George Smith's
The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide (Jones & Co., London, 1828). Although the plates were published individually in September and December 1826, it is unlikely that they would have been known to a Salem or Boston cabinetmaker before 1827. George Smith's work, perhaps the most influential of the English Regency, was very unpopular among cabinetmakers in Boston, a city dominated by English taste in furniture.
The combination of two pieces of an English pattern book into a single American commission is very rare.