Broom Hall

Combination Dressing Table and Washstand

English, late 18th century, in the style of Thomas Sheraton

Even a large house with some modern amenities such as gaslight and as comfortable and private as Broom Hall would have no dedicated bathrooms. With no indoor plumbing, everything needed for personal hygiene had to be portable.

This piece of furniture contains everything you need to get ready - mirror, bidet, bowls for clean and waste water, compartments to keep brushes, combs, creams, scent, toothbrush and tooth powder.

This complicated piece of furniture has no maker's mark or label anywhere upon it.  It is nonetheless a high quality example of the cabinetmaker's art.  The unknown craftsman who made it is clearly indebted to the designs of Thomas Sheraton, as elements of the arrangement of this piece of furniture are to be found in Sheraton's The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, which was published in instalments from 1791.  It was reprinted in1794 and 1802.  Sheraton's book was addressed primarily to the trade and its aim was practical - to acquaint cabinet makers with the most up-to-date designs.

The designs in Sheraton's book are both ingenious and thoughtful.  This example combines the functions of a dressing table and a wash stand.  Sheraton took particular care that his designs should contain "every requisite for a lady to dress at".  The various compartments "are intended to hold all the ornaments of dress, as rings, drops, &c."  The lower part of this piece of furniture contains a bidet on one side and a covered water drawer (for dirty water) on the other, concealed behind sham drawers at the front.  Indeed, when closed the whole looks like an elegant chest of drawers rather than a functional and practical piece of furniture.

Sheraton supplies us with tantalising details of how his designs should be used.  Next to a design for a night table he writes, "The night-table requires no explanation, and I shall only observe, that the covers with rings on them are meant for a tooth-brush, and the ivory boxes on the right for tooth-powder."  These remarks might explain the function of some of the compartments in this particular piece.

In the 1790s, furniture was expensive and even the grandest houses would have appeared sparsely furnished.  Servants would have carried whatever furniture was required to wherever it was needed.  It is not surprising then, that different functions should be combined in one piece, nor that they should be disguised in so neat and pleasing a manner.  For this piece of furniture to function efficiently, it would have required servants, not only to carry it from room to room, but also to keep it supplied with fresh water, removing it when soiled.