The dressing table came to Russia from France. It appeared during the Baroque era, which prevailed in the 18th century when luxurious gowns were popular in France. An exquisite morning dress would be replaced with a magnificent outdoor dress, which in its turn would give way to a lush and sumptuous ballroom gown. Frequent changes of dresses were the reason, why this piece of furniture appeared, as it solved several tasks at once. At a dressing table it was possible not only to wash oneself but also to change dresses, tidy one’s hair, and freshen oneself up. 

 
Gradually, instead of a mirror with a couple of drawers and a bowl for washing, in bedrooms of all rich houses began to appear exquisite dressing tables. At first, they looked like writing desks, and sometimes one table performed both functions simultaneously: drawers contained both quills with writing paper and jars with cosmetic aids. Dressing tables were a necessary part of both women’s and men’s paraphernalia. 

Rosewood is a very hard and dense wood, it polishes well and is used for making musical instruments, furniture and small expensive objects, such as humidors, or cigar boxes. 

Nowadays this wood is very expensive and is rarely used as solid pieces, only as veneer sheets and inlays. The legs of the dressing table are in the style of cabriole, decorated with claws in the lower part and sculptural bronze elements in the form of chubby Cupids at the top.