Neoclassical Man Powder

The toilet of the elegant gentleman at the end of the 18th century was no less complex than that of these ladies. The passage to the powder room (dressing table designed to allow the wig to be correctly placed and powdered to whiten it) was imperative. This piece of furniture, in the form of a small desk, was equipped with a retractable top, in order to free up interior fittings and a mirror. However, this one is quite unusual, and certainly not French (they are very classic here, with marble and a large mirror). Here dressed on the outside with a blond burl walnut veneer with a compass rose inlaid on the center of the top, and bordered with antique motifs in imitation of marquetry, opens onto a complex arrangement of compartments and drawers in a pit under the pivoting mirror. Secret spaces are arranged under the compartments at the back. A decoration representing the abduction of Ganymede decorates the reverse of the top on a background of birch veneer, wood which also decorates the drawers and compartments on a background of pine. This refined arrangement, unusual, certainly results from a special order, probably around 1790 / 1800. The piece of furniture rests on elegant bronze sabots made of leaves.