Mid-18th Century Vanities

A highly sought after and hard to find iconic piece from the Luigi Massoni collaboration with Poltrana Frau, ca. 1968. The modular Dilly Dally vanity inc...

Excellent French Louis XV Marquetry Dressing Table, so-called "Perruquiere", Manner of Pierre Roussel (1723-1782) The top of shaped outline, the front is recurved with a small kneehole, fitted with a leather covered pull out writing slide and four drawers. The sides are slightly bowed. The top divided in three sections, the outer two hingeing outwards to reveal box sections, once used for storing toilet articles or wigs (french: perruque, therefore this type of funiture is called "perruquière"), the central one lifts up on a hinge to reveal an adjustable mirror. The dressing table is supported on square-sectioned cabriole legs, the feet with gilt-bronze sabots. Being decorated on all sides, it is possible to place the dressing table or perruquière in the center of a room. Dressing tables were essential pieces of furniture for fashionable 18th century ladies who spent much time at their toilette preparing for an endless series of entertainments and social appearances. A series of drawers, which could be secured by lock and key, rendered such furniture appropriate for storing personal effects and, especially, private correspondence. The well proportioned curvy shape as well as the excellent marquetry decoration of the Louis XV dressing table...

18th century, Italian Louis XV Lacquered Wood Vanity Dressing Cabinet The vanity dressing cabinet was made in Italy in Genoa around the middle of the eighteenth century, Louis XV. Very elegant and refined, the cabinet has a wooden structure entirely lacquered and painted with floral decorations in shades of blue. The top opens with three flap doors: in the center the door has a mirror inside, while laterally there are two large compartments, lined with precious marbled paper. On the front there are three drawers, one central and two side, all lined with marbled paper. The four legs are moved and arched giving gracefulness to the overall architecture. The manufacture of marbled paper is very old, born in Japan in the twelfth century. It first spread to Persia and Turkey, where it was mainly used for the decoration of manuscripts, then, thanks to Western merchants and their contacts with the Middle East, it spread to the whole West: at that time, in fact, the production of marbled paper intensified to become the preferred technique for lining the inside of boxes then imported into Europe. It was thanks to the trade of Arab merchants that a link between the two cultures was created. During the sixteenth century it conquered and fascinated the whole of Europe where it was defined marbled paper (carta marmorizzata in Italy, paper marbré in France) by the obvious similarity with the veins of marble. Marbled paper is an ancient technique (it has its roots in Chinese craftsmanship of the 8th Century) as well as laborious and delicate and was used mainly in the bookbinding of ancient books...

Having a shaped top with rounded front corners, the top hinged in the rear and having an inset mirror on the underside, the conforming case with shaped and carved apron atop scrollin...

18th Century French Louis XV Cube Pattern Marquetry Dressing Table or Coiffeuse Charming 18th century Louis XV vanity/dressing table or coiffeuse standing on slender cabriole legs, ...

Louis XV marquetry mechanical table or ‘table liseuse’, in the manner of Le´onard Boudin (1735-1804), veneered in tulipwood and other exotic woods, in part stained, on a carcase of o...

A Louis XV marquetry dressing table or 'perruquiere' attributed to Pierre Roussel (1723-1782). The table is veneered in tulipwood and other woods, forming floral marquetry panels with a the top central panel incorporating a trophy of finely inlaid musical instruments. The marquetry shows signs of staining and inking, the whole on a carcase of oak and pine. The top of shaped outline, the front is recurved with a small kneehole, fitted with a leather covered pull out writing slide and four drawers. The sides are slightly bowed. The body of the table, serpentine on the lower edge on all sides, is veneered with diagonally-set tulipwood forming the background of the marquetry panels. The top divided in three sections, the outer two hingeing outwards to reveal box sections, the central one lifts up on a hinge to reveal an adjustable mirror. The left hand compartment lifts out to reveal a still fitted lined box with toilet articles: including two glass bottles/ flasks with silver screw tops and an appropriate metal funnel, scissor, spoon, a silver needle case...

A small Louis XV cherrywood dressing table or poudreuse with flower inlay. The serpentine top is divided into three sections: the centre panel is mounted ...

A Louis XV dressing table attributed to Pierre Roussel (1723-1782). The table is veneered in tulipwood and other woods, forming floral marquetr...

A Genoese mid-18th century trellis work marquetry vanity or console table, with a serpentine top opening to reveal a bevelled and arched mirror, with a bombe fronted set with a singl...

French Louis XV woman's dressing table or "poudreuse" dates back to the 18th century. For the beautiful marquetry, the maker combined three types of veneer: Rosewood, kingwood and ...

Exquisite Louis XV Period Dressing table with creme peinte, and an olive green border. The flip top opens to a flower motif padded interior which holds brass and glass perfume bottle...