This object has the following keywords:

• dressing cases - Boxes intended for toilet articles and sometimes writing materials, often fitted with drawers, trays, or partitions and usually a mirror; often especially for travel.
• mahogany - Refers to the wood of trees of the genus Swietenia, found in tropical climates, primarily in Mexico, Cuba, Central America, and the West Indies. It varies in color from yellow to a rich red brown, and is valued in furniture-making and sculpture-carving because it is hard, fine-grained, and takes a high polish. Mahogany has a fine, straight grain that takes a high polish. It is dimensionally stable and does not shrink, warp, or swell. The durable, dark reddish-brown wood was imported to Europe in the 18th century where it became popular for furniture, paneling and veneer. Ammonia brings out a rich, red color in mahogany wood. Mahogany is frequently attacked by pinhole borer beetles. Many woods of similar colors have also been called mahoganies, but usually do not have rich color or fine cutting characteristics of the true mahogany wood. However, the related African genus Khaya produces a similar wood. Mahogany was used by Chippendale, Hepplewhite, and the Adam brothers for high quality furniture.
• marquetry - The technique in which small pieces of specially shaped wood, or sometimes other materials such as ivory, are incorporated into a suface of decorative veneer. Distinguished from "inlay," where decorative pieces are set into a solid ground; in marquetry, the entire surface is veneered.
• Swietenia - Genus of evergreen trees from tropical America including at least 3 species, which hybridize easily when grown in proximity; thus the species are poorly defined biologically. The trees have a hard wood that turns reddish brown at maturity, valued as timber. The leaflets of each large leaf are arranged like a feather, but there is no terminal leaflet.

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• The Deanery Remembered Bryn Mawr College , 5/1/1985 - 5/29/1985
• Mirrors and Masks: Reflections and Constructions of the Self Bryn Mawr College , 3/23/2017 - 6/4/2017

The following Bibliography exist for this object:

• Manufacturers' Appraisal Company, 1949 Manufacturers' Appraisal. 1949
  Page Number: 43
• Manufacturers' Appraisal Company, 1954 Manufacturers' Appraisal. 1954
  Page Number: n/a
• Carrie Robbins and Steven Z. Levine. Mirrors & Masks. Bryn Mawr College. Bryn Mawr, PA, March, 2017
  Page Number: 40, Figure Number: Plate 10

This object is a member of the following portfolios: