Lady's Toilette Table

Fashionable Furniture 1809

From Ackermann’s Repository

August page 132.

PLATE 13. FASHIONABLE FURNITURE.

It cannot but be highly gratifying to every person of genuine taste, to observe the revolution which has, within these few years, taken place in the furniture and decorations of the apartments of people of fashion. In consequence of this revolution, effected principally by the study of the antique, and the refined notions of beauty derived from that source, the barbarous Egyptian style, which a few years since prevailed, is succeeded by the classic elegance which characterized the most polished ages of Greece and Rome. In none of the articles of domestic convenience is this change more apparent, than in those which are subservient to the purposes of the toilet, which at once display the good taste of the fair owners, and the skill and ingenuity of the artists whom they patronize. This is strikingly exemplified in the appendages of the dressing-room represented in the annexed engraving.

The principle figure exhibits the elegant lady’s toilet, a very handsome article, wrought in fine mahogany, superbly ornamented with highly finished brass, the center top folding back with a large sized British plate glass. The interior is divided into various compartments for every requisite for the accommodation of the accomplished female. Each end folding over, affords extra partitions and divisions, equally as necessary as the center. The whole is mounted on brass claw feet, with fret-work, of the same manufacture, encompassing the platform.

In front of the toilet stands a convenient Ottomon footstool, French-stuffed, and covered with green Morocco leather, ornamented with brass-work en suite.

On the left is a fauteuil, with mahogany frame, French stuffed, and the seat covered with green Morocco leather, carved back, and brass ornaments.

On the right is placed a chamber-bath, which being of all others the most proper article for the promotion of health, more especially in the summer season, for either sex, it is impossible to recommend a more desirable piece of furniture.