A rare and architecturally distinctive Arts & Crafts oak dressing table by Liberty & Co., London, retaining its original Liberty & Co. Ltd., London W. ivorine maker’s plaque and stamped Registered Design No. 232372.

Constructed in oak, the dressing table is distinguished by its dramatic A-frame side supports, pierced trefoil cut-outs beneath the integral mirror, two drawers and triangular wrought-iron drop handles. Its restrained geometric construction combines an Old English vernacular character with subtle Gothic Revival detailing.

The stamped registration number, RD 232372, corresponds directly with the Liberty & Co. dressing table held in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Object O16956. The V&A records its example as part of a Liberty bedroom suite and places the design within Liberty’s commercial interpretation of progressive Arts & Crafts interiors associated with architects including C.F.A. Voysey and M.H. Baillie Scott, while noting the Gothic Revival character of the pierced arches.

The design was formally registered by Liberty and Company on 15 May 1894, as recorded by The National Archives under Registered Design No. 232372, providing an unusually precise documentary date for the model.

Literature: Daryl Bennett, Liberty’s Furniture 1875–1915: The Birth of Modern Interior Design, Antique Collectors’ Club, 2012, pp. 138–139, fig. 4.106. Bennett illustrates the V&A example, describing it as a Liberty & Co. oak washstand with iron fittings, Registered Design No. 232372, dated 1894. The present example is of this documented registered design.

The dressing table retains both its original Liberty ivorine label and RD 232372 stamp—particularly valuable surviving identifying features. The original triangular wrought-iron drop handles, oak mirror frame, pivot mechanism and main oak structure remain intact. The mirror plate has been replaced during its lifetime, as is common with period dressing tables.

Examples of this specific registered design are seldom encountered on the open market. With its original marks, documented 1894 registration and direct correspondence to the V&A example, this is a notably well-identified surviving example of Liberty’s late-nineteenth-century Arts & Crafts furniture.