Hampton

Early Neoclassical (Hepplewhite) style, 1780-1800
London

This gentleman’s dressing table is often called a “Beau Brummell” today, after the English Regency era dandy and arbiter of fashion of that name. A stylish piece of English furniture, the dressing table is elaborately equipped with 17 separate compartments, a sliding mirror for dressing and shaving, compartments for washbasin, soap, and bottle, a pull-out writing surface, and a compartment to hide a chamber pot. The golden satinwood veneers were fashionable in English furniture at the end of the 18th century. Charles Carnan Ridgely ordered English pieces for Hampton during this period and may have had a dressing table of this type.

Satinwood, mahogany, spruce, glass. H 92.1, W 71.8, D 51 cm
Hampton National Historic Site, HAMP 3932