"The Fox and the Grapes" Dressing Table
Artist/maker unknown, American
Geography:
Made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
Date:
1765-1775Medium:
Mahogany, yellow poplar, white cedar, yellow pine; brassMaterialsDimensions:
29 7/8 x 35 x 23 1/4 inches (75.9 x 88.9 x 59.1 cm)Curatorial Department:
American Art
2012-59-1Credit Line:
Purchased with funds contributed by Leslie A. Miller and Richard B. Worley, Kathy and Ted Fernberger, Mrs. J. Maxwell Moran, Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest, Sarah Miller Coulson, Donna C. and Morris W. Stroud II, Dr. and Mrs. Robert E. Booth, Dr. Salvatore M. Valenti, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Vogel III, Jr., Peggy Cooke, Hannah L. Henderson, Lawrence H. and Julie C. Berger, Hollie and Jamie Holt, George M. and Linda H. Kaufman, David and Margaret Langfitt, Richard Wood Snowden, and other generous individuals, gifts (by exchange) of Howard Reifsnyder, R. Wistar Harvey, and Charles C. Willis, the Lynford Starr Bequest for American Decorative Art, The Bloomfield Moore Fund, The Saul/O’Keefe Fund for American Furniture Acquisition, the Joseph E. Temple Fund, the E. Beatty Acquisition Fund, the Lea Fund, the Center for American Art Fund, and with funds from the proceeds of the sale of deaccessioned works of art, 2012
Made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
Date:
1765-1775Medium:
Mahogany, yellow poplar, white cedar, yellow pine; brassMaterialsDimensions:
29 7/8 x 35 x 23 1/4 inches (75.9 x 88.9 x 59.1 cm)Curatorial Department:
American Art
* Gallery 287, American Art, second floor
Accession Number:2012-59-1Credit Line:
Purchased with funds contributed by Leslie A. Miller and Richard B. Worley, Kathy and Ted Fernberger, Mrs. J. Maxwell Moran, Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest, Sarah Miller Coulson, Donna C. and Morris W. Stroud II, Dr. and Mrs. Robert E. Booth, Dr. Salvatore M. Valenti, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Vogel III, Jr., Peggy Cooke, Hannah L. Henderson, Lawrence H. and Julie C. Berger, Hollie and Jamie Holt, George M. and Linda H. Kaufman, David and Margaret Langfitt, Richard Wood Snowden, and other generous individuals, gifts (by exchange) of Howard Reifsnyder, R. Wistar Harvey, and Charles C. Willis, the Lynford Starr Bequest for American Decorative Art, The Bloomfield Moore Fund, The Saul/O’Keefe Fund for American Furniture Acquisition, the Joseph E. Temple Fund, the E. Beatty Acquisition Fund, the Lea Fund, the Center for American Art Fund, and with funds from the proceeds of the sale of deaccessioned works of art, 2012
Explore the Collections
For fashionable eighteenth-century Philadelphians, high chests and dressing tables represented the pinnacle of design, cabinetmaking, and carving in bedchamber furniture. This dressing table was conceived with a massive high chest of drawers (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1957-129-1). On its central drawer a composition borrowed from a 1761 publication by English carver Thomas Johnson depicts the moment of truth from Aesop’s well-known fable “The Fox and the Grapes”: a proud and skillful fox who cannot reach a bunch of succulent grapes decries them as sour and not desirable after all. The tale warns against the ills of greed and vanity, an ironic scene on this bold emblem of opulence.
* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit.
