This is a particularly fine and successful example of Charles X period furniture, specifically a table de toilette circa 1820-25. The rare, short lived style, is renowned for being the height of inlay refinement in furniture history.

The dressing table features a white Carrara marble, and it opens by one drawer, divided into three compartments, which retains its original key. The inlay work, in purple heart wood on birds-eye maple, is of an earlier Charles X variety (being highly symmetrical and “academically” neoclassical). Later on during the decade, and into the 1830s, this inlay becomes more floral and romantic. The tilting mirror here is fixed, most exceptionally, by subtle but finely finished elements of gilded bronze. It’s supports descend from an inlaid rosette, gracefully to terminate in sculpted rams heads (a particularly special element of this piece’s decor).

The word toilette in French simply comes from the word toile for the sort of cloth back in the 15th and 16th centuries which would have covered the table onto which different objects for facial and hair care would have been arranged.

During the 18th century, the first specialized “beauty pieces” emerge such as these table de toilette which first had fold-down mirrors. During the early 19th century, the use of such pieces widens, and the mirrors becomes fixed into place above a rectangular, marble covered table. These charming pieces continued to enjoy a certain vogue even after the standardization of bathrooms during the 20th century, as various art-deco models, such as those by Ruhimann were masterpieces of refinement.

Height: 59.75 inches . Length: 34.5 inches Depth: 17.75 inches

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