Bureau Table

Unidentified maker, New York State
Date: c. 1760
Maker: Unidentified maker, New York State
Dimensions: 33 H x 35 1/2 W x 22 D
Materials: Mahogany, yellow poplar, and eastern white pine
Marks: Paper label on rear: Property of / Edward W. Rankin/ 27 Tweddle Bld / Albany / NY
Credit: Gift of Miss Emily Watkinson Rankin and Edward Elmendorf Rankin in memory of their mother, Catherine Bogart Putnam (Mrs. Edward W.) Rankin
Accession Number: 1955.50
Comments: Bureau tables were intended to be elegant platforms for dressing articles, especially for wigs. Most often these tables were placed in bedrooms. And, as opposed to feminine dressing tables that are open underneath to provide room for women's voluminous skirts, these bureau tables are associated more with men. New York's growing prosperity in the 1740s and 1750s created an affluent circle of people who maintained both city and country homes furnished with fashionable objects such as this. This table, though crafted in New York, reflects New England cabinetmaking traditions.