Dry sink or washstand

1845-1855

Measurements

32-1/2 in x 32-3/4 in x 17 in

Materials

Mahogany; tulip poplar (drawer sides, bottom), white pine (drawer fronts, back and bottom boards, interior woods)

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.646

Inscription

“MARY CORBIT WILSON 1846” is engraved into a brass plate applied to the top center of the front.

Condition Notes

The brasses are not original.  The drawer brasses are reproductions of an 18th century style.  The large decorative hinges are of late 19th century design.  The hinges at the rear of the lidded chest top have been relocated from the top to the back edge.

Provenance

Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner. The dry sink resembles some other furniture, notably an armchair, accession no. 1971.644, also bearing an engraved brass tag, that was likely part of Mrs. Warner’s childhood household furnishings.

Comments

This rectangular cased washstand or dry sink is finely made of fine materials.  The lidded top opens to a white-painted chest cavity on two levels, presumably for a basin on the shallow left side and a water pitcher on the other.  The front façade at of the chest cavity has three faux drawer fronts and one working drawer below the basin shelf.  All of the drawers display book-matched mahogany veneers.  The cupboard below, accessed by opposed doors with sunken panels of book-matched mahogany veneer, has a shelf with a curved front above the case bottom.  More book-matched mahogany veneer decorates the top rail of the case front.

The washstand likely furnished one of the better bedrooms in Mrs. Warner's childhood home.