item details
Overview
This dressing table was made in about 1890 by William Norrie, and is an elegant New-Zealand made example of Victorian design. The table has three drawers, supported by two turned legs at the front and two straight legs at the rear. At the base is a concave under-tier, allowing the user to stand as close to the mirror as necessary. Sitting on top of the table are two smaller sets of drawers connected by a rail and balusters. These are surmounted by an oval mirror, framed with S scrolls and a decorative wooden arch.
The term ‘dressing table’ was first used in the seventeenth century, denoting a small table designed for a lady’s or gentleman’s toilette. In the eighteenth century the dressing table became an object of fine craftsmanship and design, serving as a status symbol and the setting for an elaborate process of primping and self-presentation. By the nineteenth century dressing tables were being produced in a variety of sizes and styles, often referencing or imitating historic styles. This dressing table includes the curved forms of the Rococo style, but is not over-elaborate. As furniture historian William Cottrell suggests in Furniture of the New Zealand Colonial Era, it achieves a ‘fine balance between material and design to produce an extremely elegant piece of furniture’ (464).
Further reading
- Adlin, Jane. 2013. Vanities: Art of the Dressing Table [adapted from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 71, no. 2 (Fall, 2013)]. Met Publications. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/vanities_art_of_the_dressing_table#/
Cottrell, William. 2006. Furniture of the New Zealand Colonial Era, An Illustrated History 1830-1900. Auckland: Reed.
- Miller, Judith. ed. 1998. Miller’s Antiques Encyclopedia. London: Millers.